


Boy Trouble, Fero's Got Double

by waltzforthemoon



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Winter in Hieron Spoilers, feelings are caught all around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 17:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16123421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waltzforthemoon/pseuds/waltzforthemoon
Summary: Fero accidentally tells his parents he's getting married to Emmanuel, a pastry chef who makes crêpes in Roseheart. Who is also an undead pirate from Nacre. Who is kind of dating his best friend, Lem.Fero expects he will find a way to get out of this awkward situation, keep Lem as a friend, and make sure Emmanuel stays alive-well, undead. But what he doesn't expect are the feelings that will emerge from being forced to spend time alone with his fake fiancé.





	Boy Trouble, Fero's Got Double

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, this story is canon-compliant and takes place during Winter in Hieron in between the events related to the Chancellor's disappearance in Rosemerrow and before Lem and Fero leave to go to the New Archives. 
> 
> I spent a lot of my summer writing and thinking about this fic, and I love all combinations of Fero/Lem/Emmanuel, and I saw so much potential for them to all catch feelings in the last season of Hieron... so here's this slightly angsty romcom where they all catch feelings! (slightly angsty because it's Fero lol)
> 
> Anyway, this was so much fun to write, so I really hope whoever decides to read this story really enjoys it. I also hope this inspires more people to get on the Lemmanuero train!

 

Emmanuel nervously looked out the window of the Likely Striker, watching the flakes of snow as they sprinkled down under the torchlights outside. Beyond them were the dark figures of Ordennan soldiers patrolling the streets of Roseheart.

“You know, maybe it’s not really safe for me to be here anymore,” Emmanuel said with a sigh as he turned away from the window. “Lem… do you think I could go with you to the New Archives?”

Lem’s eyes widened as he instinctively closed the distance by stepping forward, his hands reaching out towards Emmanuel. “What? You think... “ He didn’t finish the sentence and looked down in consternation. “I want you to be safe, Emmanuel. And where we are going… is probably not going to be safe.”

Emmanuel breathed out a sarcastic laugh. “Is anywhere safe where Ordenna is invading?”

Fero, Hella, Ephrim, Throndir, Kodiak, Adaire, and Hadrian were also in the patisserie sat around a table, hearing the conversation. The shop was closed for the night and only candlelight lit the room, creating vague shadows as the crew shifted uncomfortable looks between each other. They had all come together to finalize plans of where to go next, now that their business was done in Rosemerrow. 

Fero looked towards Hella, who bit her lip at the mention of Ordennan soldiers.

Lem only looked at Emmanuel as he quietly answered,  “Emmanuel, are you worried that…”

“I’m just saying, it’s only a matter of time if Ordennan soldiers start questioning citizens in Rosemerrow.” Emmanuel crossed his arms and scoffed. “They’ll know I’m not from Rosemerrow. They’ll probably know I’m not from Velas. And then… they’ll realize that I’m… undead.”

“Rosemerrow’s a huge city! Lots of people here aren’t from Rosemerrow,” Fero interjected.

Emmanuel stepped away from Lem and looked at Fero for what must have been the first time since they’d arrived to Rosemerrow. “Yeah? How many of them are ghosts?”

“Umm.” Fero pursed his lips as he stared up to think. “Well, look—realistically, you’re safer in a city than out in the mountains or wherever Ordennan soldiers can just outright kill you without any consequence or questioning.”

“He’s got a point,” Adaire succinctly added as she daintily cut into her sweet crêpe with a knife and fork.

“You’re right. Anywhere I go… the Ordennans will follow…” Emmanuel cast his eyes down. “We carry Nacre with us… which means… you three…. You fools…” Emmanuel looked back up to glare at Fero, Hella, and then Lem. He heaved out a sigh. 

“Hey…” Hella started, but then she looked down with a guilty expression in her eyes and stopped herself.

Fero didn’t know what to say, either. After all, they did leave Nacre to be destroyed by Ordenna… which made everyone flee… which brought the curse to Hieron. So it was kind of their fault? But no, it was Ordenna’s fault for invading!

Fero decided to come back with, “Listen, I don’t like those Ordenna fuckers at all--uh, except for Hella, I guess--” Hella’s eyes flashed towards Fero. “So we’ll try and help you.”

“You will?” Lem asked.

“We will?” Hadrian echoed as he alertly picked his head up. He seemed distracted in thought during the discussion up until that point.

“Of course we will!” Throndir said with a cheerful smile as Kodiak wagged his tail in agreement. “It’s the least we could do after all the bad things that have happened here. We shouldn’t lose anymore friends.” 

At that, everyone else got a bit somber and cast their eyes down.

Fero thought about Mother Glory, who he had failed to save, how the Gnolls had asked him to stay and help them. And he said no. The image of Emmanuel waiting in jail to be executed flashed through his mind and a chill ran through him.

Fero didn’t want to stay in Rosemerrow… but seeing how worried Lem looked right now, it would be better if his mind were eased while they continued on their journey.

“Friends..?” Emmanuel questioned as he brought a nervous hand up to his hair. “You would try and help me?”

“Well, Lem likes you and I don’t want Lem to be sad if anything were to happen to you,” Fero nonchalantly said as he bit into his crêpe. “Also these are the best crêpes in Rosemerrow—it’d be a shame if you died.”

Lem’s eyes widened. “Fero…”

“That’s probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said about anybody,” Ephrim remarked with a raised eyebrow. Hadrian and Hella laughed in response.

“What? No, it’s not!” Fero denied.

Lem’s finally lost the tension in his shoulders and he softly laughed as he glanced at Fero. Then he turned to Emmanuel, placing a hand on his arm. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, I promise.”

Emmanuel smiled back, a shade of pink appearing on his cheeks. 

Hadrian cleared his throat. “So… what’s the plan?”

 

+

 

“So… tell me how this is a good idea again?” Hella asked Fero as they walked down the dirt road that led to Fero’s family’s village in the agricultural district of Flank Fields. The sun had still not reappeared yet, so they carried lanterns through the snow in the dark. Hella stayed at the back of her group, her sword at the ready in case trouble arose. 

“Simple—we tell my family that Emmanuel’s a good friend of mine, just moved into town and needs a place to crash ‘cause Roseheart’s rent is getting way too expensive. He gets unofficially  adopted by a family of halflings, they vouch for him being a friend of the family and _definitely not an undead pirate from the island that Ordenna sacked_ and no one asks questions anymore. Boom. Easy.”

“And… that’s enough reason for your family to take him in?” Lem asked nervously. “And when even is the last time you spoke to your family, Fero?”

“Well…” Fero started. 

“I don’t know about this,” Emmanuel muttered as he shook his head at Fero. “I thought when  you said you knew how to bypass getting citizenship in Rosemerrow… you actually knew something legitimate.”

Fero narrowed his eyes as he pointed up at Emmanuel. “Hey! I’m saving your butt. Now just follow us, keep quiet, and please stop with the awful Velas accent. You’re better off telling people you came from the snow like Throndir since no one actually ever meets people from the snow. But people in Rosemerrow do know what a Velas accent really sounds like.”

“Fero, stop being rude!” Lem shushed.

“I’m not! Your friend here is outing himself with his terrible fake accent!” Fero retaliated.

“Hey… we don’t need to be so harsh with him, do we?” Hella asked.

“Says the person who first said they had to kill Emmanuel because he was spreading the curse?” Lem whispered.

“But I didn’t!” Hella argued, her face growing red. 

Emmanuel, who was at the front of the group just behind Fero, exhaled and put his arms up behind his head. “I mean… I guess we don’t have to spend that much time with your family, do we?"

Fero scoffed. “Nah. They barely even know Lem and we’ve been together for… well… at least a year, right?”

“Oh… you two knew each other that long?” Emmanuel asked.

“Well maybe they’d know me better if you weren’t so intent on never coming home,” Lem cut in to address Fero.

“I’m here now, aren’t I?” Fero said as he crossed his arms.

“How come you didn’t want to go home this whole time?” Emmanuel asked Fero.

“It’s just not that important to me,” Fero replied.

Emmanuel tilted his head skeptically. “Well, I just lost my home… I’d give anything for one more peaceful day there." 

Fero groaned. “Yeah, well—you didn’t want to leave in the first place. It’s different.”

“Right… you’ve been with Lem all this time, so you moved to the Archives…? Did you like it better there?”

_Of course—I had Lem_ , was what Fero wanted to say. But that sounded way too sincere. Also Lem had been rude recently, so it’s not like that sentiment would still hold the same when they got to the Archives again.

“The mountains are really nice,” was all Fero explained.

“Maybe I should go with you, then, Lem?” Emmanuel asked as he turned back with a grin. “Once things are… more peaceful.”

Lem nervously laughed. “I’d love that, but… I’m still not sure if I’m welcome back yet.”

“Because of the plant?”

Lem nodded. “It’s still wilting…”

“I could try communing with the plant again to help it grow,” Fero offered.

“No, we already tried that and it didn’t work,” Lem quickly dismissed. 

Fero frowned and threw his hands up defensively. “I was just offering you help!”

“I don’t need your help,” Lem grumbled. 

“Hey, we can just turn around and not go to my parent’s house!” Fero stopped in his tracks. “If you don’t want my help…”

Lem groaned. “You know that’s not what I mean…”

“Could you all just shut up with your bickering?” Hella groaned at the back of the group and crossed her arms. “I don’t even know why I’m here…”

“Because you’re the representative from Ordenna who’s gonna be cool with Emmanuel, so that my family thinks there’s nothing suspicious about him when the actual Ordennans start their bullshit.”

Hella sighed. “Fine.” 

Emmanuel heaved a big sigh as well. “You know… maybe I should just have ran away somewhere by myself.”

“Don’t be ridiculous—we’ll make Fero’s plan work,” Lem told him with a heartfelt look. “You deserve to feel safe in Rosemerrow.”

Emmanuel gave Lem a soft look back.

Fero felt a weight in his stomach as he watched them. He’s sure he was just feeling disgusted by how mushy it was. That’s all.

 

+

 

When the group finally arrived to Fero’s home village in Flank Fields, he led the way through the sparsely lit roads to a small cottage that had oil lamps hanging from the roof as well as torches that lit up the path. The plants and flowers that once lined Fero’s home had now frozen over, encased in white shells now. It was beautiful in a way, that the vine that garlanded the walls was now encased in shining white snow.

The lights were on inside the house and Fero could smell the familiar scent of his father’s vegetable stew. 

“Well… here goes nothing,” Fero said with a shrug as he approached the door.

“Wait, Fero! What’s the plan?” Lem asked as he placed a hand on Fero’s shoulder.

Fero shrugged off Lem’s hand. “I’ll introduce Emmanuel, it’ll be super casual. Then we have dinner and drinks—and thankfully my uncles aren’t here to make things awkward—and Emmanuel here does his best to keep his mouth shut while I tell my parents all about the great friend I made in the city.”

“You mean… you’re going to lie?” Lem asked with a skeptical raise of his eyebrow.

“Got any other bright ideas?” Fero asked.

Lem rolled his eyes. “Not really…”

“It’ll be fine, Lem!” Fero clapped a hand on his elbow and turned back to face the door, knocking three times in a rhythmic way so that his family knew it was him.

“Fero… you’re back!”

It was Fero’s mother who opened the door and immediately launched herself forward to embrace him. Fero feebly tried to hold her back as his arms were crushed to his sides, his mother’s curls brushing his face as she sobbed against him.

“Hi Mom,” Fero said. Mrs. Feritas released him and smiled. Fero’s mother was much shorter than he was, so she looked up at him as she held his face.

“What? I was just here, wasn’t I?” Fero asked, feeling uncomfortable with all the tears. “Why are you cryin’, Mom?”

She shook her head and then blew her nose onto the cloth apron she brought to her face. “Oh… well… Did you… forget something?”

Fero tilted his head in confusion. “Hmm?”

“Umm, we just figured…since you were on your way… that it might be several more seasons before you returned again.” His mother smiled, showing her teeth this time. “But I am very glad to be surprised!”

Fero half-heartedly smiled back at her. The truth was that he was ready to move on, this was just a minor detour. 

“Did I hear you say Fero?” 

After a quick rhythm of steps, Fero’s cousin Arva appeared at the door.

“What are you doing here, you rascal?” She launched forward and ruffled his hair. “Thought you had important things to be getting on with…”

“Fero?"

Fero straightened up as soon as he heard his father’s voice from inside. Mr. Feritas didn’t come to the door, but his mother wrapped a hand onto his wrist and said, “Get inside, Fero, dear… your father will want to see you.”

And then for the first time, it seemed like, Fero’s mother looked up and noticed Lem, Hella, and Emmanuel.

“Oh! You’ve brought friends?” she asked.

Fero glanced back. “Oh, yeah! They can come in, too right?”

Arva crossed her arms. “Oh, so Lem’s back? Wow, Fero, seems like you’re getting serious bringing him home twice…”

“Shut up! He’s my friend and we’ve been here on business.” Fero glared at her. “Why are you still here?”

“I told you—I’m helping out your family all winter. However long it lasts,” Arva said with a sigh.

“Come inside, all of you, and then we can get properly acquainted with Fero’s friends!” Fero’s mom pinched his cheek affectionately. “Didn’t know you were so popular…” 

Fero rolled his eyes as he followed her to walk into the house.

Mr. Feritas was sitting on his armchair in the den, next to the roasting fire and all the same exact furniture in all the same exact places they were in since Fero was little. On the round dining table that the stew was steaming from, a pot and empty bowls were left on cloth placemats.

“These are some other friends, I suppose?” Fero’s father asked.

“Hi Dad,” Fero said, and then he cleared his throat as he looked back at Lem, Hella, and Emmanuel.

“Yeah, that’s Hella—me, her and Lem go back quite a bit—and then there’s Emmanuel…who we met more recently. He’s great! He makes crêpes at the Likely Striker in Roseheart!”

“Hi,” Hella awkwardly said with a wave. 

“Hello,” Emmanuel also said with a big grin. “It’s good to meet you all!” 

Fero curled his lip in a grimace. Emmanuel was using his ‘Velas’ accent again. _What did he say about that just five minutes ago????_

Mr. Feritas took off his glasses, then stood up, carefully eyeing Fero and the others. Fero’s dad wasn’t one to be serious that often, but for what ever reason right now, he looked like he wasn’t in a jovial mood.

“My son comes back after so many seasons away with hardly word, I didn’t even know if you were alive! And then when you come back, the sun is gone, and you’re gone as quickly as you get here! Now you’re with a group of people who look like they’re not from Rosemerrow—this guy doesn’t even sound like he’s from anywhere in Hieron I’ve been to and that woman… Her armor—is she an Ordennan? And your orc friend is here again, too, I see… And then you left, again! With barely a goodbye, not even to your mother.” Mr. Feritas sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Fero… what is going on?”

Fero swallowed. This was a bit awkward. “Uh… well, you see… this is all very normal. We live in HIeron, it’s a super diverse place and Roseheart is even more—”

“Fero Feritas! Do not lie to me. You are in trouble, aren’t you?”

“Haha, no I’m not…”

Mr. Feritas frowned. “Then why are you coming home now, and why are you with these folks—are these people criminals?”

Fero glanced back at the others, who looked visibly perturbed, Emmanuel especially. “Look, you can just calm down—everything is fine. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“He’s not in trouble,” Lem suddenly said in a serious, though gentle, tone. “You see, it was me who—”

Fero stuck an elbow in Lem’s stomach to make him stop talking. He was not about to let him spill the truth already. “No, I can explain everything. I’m… I’m getting married!”

“What?” Mr. Feritas questioned as Mrs. Feritas let a wooden cup clatter onto the floor.

“What?!” Lem and Hella exclaimed in unison. Emmanuel grimaced as he looked down at Fero. 

“Ahaha… Yeah, I…” Fero swallowed and then glanced back at Emmanuel. “I’m getting married to…” He scampered next to Emmanuel and grabbed his hand, then turned back to his parents. “…to Emmanuel! This human here. Yep! That’s—that’s the reason I brought him here! And no, he’s not from Rosemerrow, but…he lives here now and I’d like him to be able to stay here with us for a bit because I’m going to marry him!” 

Fero grinned as he nudged Emmanuel in the ribs. “Isn’t that right...honey?”

“Uhh… Yeah—yes, that’s right,” Emmanuel awkwardly added with a pained smile.

Lem and Hella’s jaws were dropped in horror.

“Fero… what… how… well, why didn’t you just tell us that at the start?” Mrs. Feritas asked as she nervously held her hands together.

Fero swallowed, conscious of his hand in Emmanuel’s, which was cold to the touch. “Well you see, I—I didn’t want to bombard you with that news and the Ordennans are getting kinda racist and locking up people left and right because of all this crazy stuff going on right now—they’re going after refugees, and Emmanuel’s scared and alone in Roseheart because he’s not from here, so who knows what they’d do to him! And well, if he were to become an official citizen of Rosemerrow, we’d feel a bit more secure. So… we’re getting married. But it’s not a big deal.”

Mr. Feritas crossed his arms. “You’re getting married just so he can have Rosemerrow citizenship?”

“No!” Fero quickly retorted as he glanced up at Emmanuel, grabbing his elbow with his free hand. Emmanuel flinched at the touch, then nervously smiled as he looked up at Fero’s parents. “We…we’re…in love…”

A silence filled the room for a good ten seconds as Fero stretched his mouth into a desperate smile.

“Son, does this mean you’re moving back home?” Mr. Feritas asked. 

“Umm. Well...”

“You’re getting married?” Arva ran and leapt at Fero, pulling him into a hug. “My little Fero is getting married!”

Fero groaned, and then Arva moved to hug Emmanuel next. “Welcome to the family!”

Fero’s parents both exchanged looks of relief and grins as they approached Fero and Emmanuel.

“Well… now I know why you seemed so secretive!” Fero’s dad clapped a hand on his shoulder. “But I’m glad you found love, even if it is with a human.” He shot a grin to Emmanuel and extended a hand. “Thanks for bringing my son home.”

“Uh… I didn’t really do that, he—“

Fero stepped on Emmanuel’s foot.

“Ah! I mean, it was… really just a coincidence of fate, I suppose,” Emmanuel said.

“What do you mean, dear?” Mrs. Feritas asked.

“Oh! We… didn’t meet in Rosemerrow,” Fero quickly replied. “We met at sea, and then… somehow we both ended up here. At the same time. Funny, huh?”

Fero glanced around, noting the pale expressions of horror on Lem and Hella’s faces.

“You’ll have to tell us all about it over supper!” Mrs. Feritas pulled Emmanuel by the arm and embraced him. “Come! Let’s all have some supper! And we must get the cider glasses out to make a toast—the nice ones, dear!”

“Umm, Fero..?” It was Lem who softly called out for him as he remained in the living room. “Would you mind…showing me where your bathroom is again? I seem to have forgotten since the last time I came here.” 

Fero blinked and nodded. “Yeah—sure, Lem it’s just down—“

Lem grabbed Fero by the elbow and nearly pushed him down the hallway from the living room and then into the bathroom.

“Ow—hey!” Fero exclaimed until Lem put a hand over his mouth and closed the door behind them.

“Fero! What the hell are you thinking?!” Lem whisper-shouted once they both got into the bathroom.

“Uh—”

“I—I cannot believe you just told your family you’re going to marry my boyfriend!”

Fero rolled his eyes. “Okay, one—I’m not really going to marry him and two—wow, you’re really using the B word, huh?”

Lem’s cheeks got even redder. Fero found it a bit endearing. Although Lem’s eyes were gleaming with what Fero could only interpret as hatred.

“Fero, that’s not the point right now! The point is—you just told everyone that you and Emmanuel are getting married! Married! Do you—how do you propose you get out of this one?!" 

“Ha, ‘propose’... “ Fero cleared his throat and then quickly answered when Lem’s gaze darkened even further. “Look, I panicked! My dad was getting real suspicious and how else were we supposed to convince my ‘rents to let your pastry chef stay at their house? ‘Hey, mom and dad? Here’s a ghost refugee from Nacre, can he shack up in your living room until we find a way to deal with the Ordennans?’ Because that would go over so well!”

“Yeah… well… did you have to tell them you were getting married?!” Lem huffed.

Fero’s brow creased in annoyance. “Hey, I did you and your buddy a favor! And it could be worse—Hella could have killed him.”

Lem hissed out a deep sigh as he placed two fingers at the bridge of his nose. “Well, why couldn’t you at least have told them that I was going to marry him? You know, since he’s MY boyfriend?”

“I’m the one from Rosemerrow, it’s more convincing that I be the one he marries to get citizenship for Rosemerrow.”

The truth was that Fero didn’t put any thought into his reasoning, but that seemed a good reason as any now.

“We should have just let him come with us,” Lem sighed.

 “And put him and all of us in danger? He’s safer here!”

“Is he?”

Fero didn’t want to get into that right now. With all the chaos that had happened, he was barely processing the fact that something terrible was happening to Hieron. Apocalypse levels of terrible. Emmanuel might not be safer here in Rosemerrow, but if he had to deal with Lem and him giving heart eyes to each other the rest of their journey to the New Archives, he would be sick. 

“Look, none of that matters now,” Fero told Lem. “I’m not really going to marry Emmanuel and we’re gonna figure everything out way before anyone would even expect us to. It’s going to be fine.”

Lem crossed his arms and shook his head at Fero. “I just… Can’t believe the audacity—just the RUDENESS of you to be saying all of that to everyone—and to Emmanuel! Think about how tough it is—”

Lem paused as they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Let me in, it’s Hella,” they heard from the other side. Fero reached over to open he door and was met with a fierce scowl from Hella.

“Get back in the kitchen! Your boy is making a mess of things with his Velas accent…”

Lem sighed, then he stared bitterly at Fero. “See what you’ve done.”

“What I’ve—“

“Hey! Didn’t you hear me? Go back and cover for him!” Hella urged as she dragged them both out by the backs of their collars. 

Fero and Lem straightened up and didn't’ make eye contact as they walked back into the living room, where Emmanuel was drinking cider and looking awkward as Fero’s relatives crowded him.

“Emmanuel, so Fero says you met at sea, where exactly are you from?” Arva asked.

“He’s not from sea!” Fero answered as he saw Emmanuel’s eyes widen. “He… was just on a boat. There’s lots of boats that sail from Velas…”

“Uh… yes! Although, I’m originally from the snow,” Emmanuel added.

“Oh, really?” Mr. Feritas asked, intrigued. “I’ve never been up to the snowy lands—of course now all of Hieron might be a snowy land, you must be used to this!”

Mr. Feritas laughed and Emmanuel awkwardly laughed in return.

Fero cleared his throat and stepped in. “He hasn’t been there in a long time. Anyway, Lem, Hella, and I were all traveling by sea and they were there when me and Emmanuel met. We got on so well that we decided to stay together for a few days, you know, traveling together, so fun!” 

Fero had completely lost all apprehension as he continued with a smug grin, “So Emmanuel and I met on a boat, and it was pretty romantic—and you know I hate boats!” Fero added a phony laugh before he continued, “Anyway he traveled here to Rosemerrow and he’s living here now and… I didn’t know what you’d think before if I had introduced him, what with everything else going on—“

“You brought Lem, though!” Arva protested.

Fero glanced at Lem and then nervously cleared his throat. “Yeah, I did, so?”

“He must be pretty important to you too, then, right?” Arva asked.

“Not as important as my fiancé!” Fero protested. “Anyway… Emmanuel works in Roseheart. And did I mention he’s a pastry chef? You’d love the crêpes, Mom!”

Fero glanced over to Lem, who looked like he was biting his tongue and trying not to make direct eye contact with him. 

“I do love crêpes!” Mrs. Feritas cheered.

After some more smalltalk and equivocation over supper, Fero casually brought up his request to have Emmanuel stay with his family.

“Anyway, a lot of shit has been happening in Roseheart lately so, umm—would it be cool if Emmanuel stayed with us for a bit? Until things calm down, you know. Plus you know that Roseheart rent is ridiculous...

“Well of course you two are staying here tonight!” Mrs. Feritas beamed in glee. “Lem, you can also stay, we can put up a bed in the living room.”

Fero relished in the suffering expression in Lem’s eyes. 

“And… what was your name, dear?” Mrs. Feritas had addressed Hella, who had been silent nearly the entire time.

“Hella…”

“Hella, you are also welcome to stay,” Mr. Feritas told her. “We can put out some bedding for you, too.”

Hella awkwardly looked down to the ground. “Umm. That’s not necessary. I’d rather not…”

“Oh, but it’s dark out there, it’s not really safe to travel alone,” Arva protested.

“It’s dark all the time,” Hella answered with her arms crossed. “It’s fine.”

“Stop being rude!” Fero told her with a glare.

Hella flushed and cleared her throat. “Uh—I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Feritas, but I do have some important things to get to. I was just escorting these boys here.”

“Hella, I’d really love if you stayed,” Lem told her with a sweet tone as he placed a hand on her elbow. “You deserve to be a part of all this happiness as much as I do.”

Fero saw Hella’s eyes flash red, or so he might have imagined.

“Yes, please do!” Mrs. Feritas insisted. “There’s plenty of room, even for a tall girl such as yourself!”

Hella sighed. “…Okay….”

“Oh, I’m so glad, Hella!” Lem told her with a smile that was hiding the daggers in his eyes.

Fero groaned. “Good, it’s settled! Everyone’s staying.”

“Oh, Fero and I can fix your room for you and Emmanuel,” Mrs. Feritas offered.

“You can… what?” Fero asked, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks.

“Oh, don’t be bashful!” Fero’s mom gently placed a hand on his forearm. “You and your fiancé get to stay in the same bedroom together, of course!”

Fero glanced up at Emmanuel, who looked like he was trying to stifle a grin at Fero’s expense.

“You know… that’s really not necess—“

“Oh, don’t be shy Fero!” Lem told him. “Don’t you want to be with your fiancé?”

“Yeah, you must be dying to be alone with him,” Hella added with her own grin.

“I hate you both,” Fero growled in a low voice.

“Fero!” Mrs. Feritas frowned and pointed a finger at his face. “Don’t be so rude to your guests.”

“He’s just a little embarrassed, it’s fine,” Emmanuel said as he got close to Fero and bent down to be level with him, and then raised a sly eyebrow. “Well, if it’s fine with your parents, it should be fine for us, right?” 

Fero narrowed his eyes at Emmanuel and scowled. “You’re really annoying, too!

“Oh, Fero…you’re so cute when you’re bashful,” cousin Arva said with a giggle. 

Then everyone else laughed and Fero scowled even harder.

  

+

 

Fero’s mother got fresh bedsheets and blankets for Fero’s room and basically forced him and Emmanuel into the room together before they could even say goodnight to the others.

Emmanuel crouched to make room for the low ceiling of Fero’s bedroom as he glanced around.

“It’s very cozy in here.”

“Oh, don’t talk to me,” Fero grumbled as he took a blanket and pillow, and then sat down on the floor.

“You’re not sleeping in your bed?” Emmanuel asked.

“Nah. You can take it,” Fero said with a wave of his hand. “You’re bigger than me. Plus, I like sleeping on the floor.”

“Hmm.” Emmanuel finally sat on Fero’s bed and sank down into the mattress. It was big enough for two people, even two human-sized people, if they weren’t too tall.

Emmanuel crossed his arms and stared at Fero, expression somber.

“What?” Fero asked with an edge to his tone.

“That was really stupid what you did back there.”

Fero scoffed. “OH, sorry I saved your ass! Did you have any better idea of what to do?”

“You lied to them about marrying me. You—marrying me?” Emmanuel scoffed. “I’m actually astounded they believed such a stupid lie.”

“Yeah, who would ever want to marry you?” Fero told Emmanuel with a glare. 

Emmanuel narrowed his eyes back at Fero. “How do you expect to get away with this plan? Are you really going to marry me?”

“Ew, of course not!” Fero said with a grimace. 

Emmanuel rolled his eyes. “Then enlighten me, what is your master plan?”

“Uh… well, we’ll bide time. We don’t have to get married right away after all—hypothetically, I mean. We could just be engaged indefinitely!” Fero grinned, satisfied at himself.

Emmanuel rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure being engaged to you is going to keep the Ordennans from killing me.”

Fero groaned. “That’s not the point—the point is that if my parents think you’re someone important to me, they’ll want to protect you, and if you’re as good as almost family, then that makes you one of us.”

Emmanuel was quiet as he looked up towards the sky. “Oh, Tristero…”

“Ugh, you’re still saying that?” Fero remarked with a grimace.

Emmanuel looked back at Fero and narrowed an eye. Then he threw a pillow at Fero, smacking him square in the face.

“Ah—Hey! What the fuck!” Fero’s face twisted as it got hot.

Emmanuel smirked with a chuckle. “You know, that felt even better than I thought it would.”

Fero stood up and wrenched the pillow in his hands, tossing it back at Emmanuel, who caught it mid-air. Fero scowled and stamped his foot on the floor in frustration.

Emmanuel laughed again. “Look, we have to at least try and pretend to like each other while I’m at your house, right?”

Fero rolled his eyes. “I guess…”

Emmanuel rubbed a hand on his chin. “You really don’t like me, huh?”

Fero pursed his lips, unable to lie. “Yeah, well you’ve been rude since the beginning! I honestly don’t know what Lem sees in you…”

Emmanuel glanced down. “I don’t, either…”

He kept his stare at the floor as he brought his hands together. 

Emmanuel looked so pathetic that Fero sighed and walked up to him. “Hey… I didn’t mean it like that. I just… don’t... like you.”

Emmanuel looked up at Fero and laughed. “You know, I don’t know what Lem sees in you, either. You’re just loud.”

“Hey!” Fero pushed at Emmanuel’s shoulder. “Yeah, well all you can do is bake!”

Emmanuel laughed again. “Better than you.”

“Yeah, but can you do this?” Fero turned into a hummingbird and then buzzed close to Emmanuel’s ear.

“Or this?” Fero said once he turned back into a halfling, then immediately warped into a small brown and gray cat, then curled up against Emmanuel’s knees.

“Or this?” Fero said in halfling form again, turning into sand. He made a symbol in the sand as if it were a smiley-face sticking its tongue out.

Emmanuel shook his head. “No, but those are some pretty cool tricks. I can’t do any of that.”

Fero shrugged. “Eh, it’s all right. You do something I can’t do—you make Lem smile.”

Emmanuel smiled at Fero, though his eyes looked a bit sad. “I guess. So do you.”

Fero scoffed. “I don’t think I’ve seen Lem smile since Nacre. Well, at least not until he saw you again.” Fero started kicking at the ground as he continued. “He’s pretty crazy for you, you know. At first it was really annoying. And, well, it’s still annoying but at least I get to annoy him now!”

Emmanuel grinned. “You do make him smile. He likes to go off into stories of his wild adventures and you are always the common feature. He smiles when he talks about you—most of the time.” 

Fero raised his brow. “Really… what, you’ve been on like two dates—how much time do you have to even talk about me?”

“Yes, we’ve only been together a few times but you came up! I think that says a lot about what Lem thinks of you,” Emmanuel comforted.

“Or how Lem doesn’t have any friends,” Fero muttered.

“Except for you, apparently.”

Fero crossed his arms. “Well, we’ll see about that once this is all over... Now that I stole his pastry chef, I’m probably his sworn enemy.“

 

+

 

Fero and Emmanuel went to bed shortly after their last exchange, and Fero was able to sleep all through the night until he heard a knock at the door. 

“Fero? Emmanuel? Wake up, it’s time for breakfast!”

It was Fero’s mother who opened the door and stepped into the room. Her jaw dropped as she glanced at Fero, who was rubbing his eyes as he sat on the floor. 

“Oh! Look at you two… just because you’re in your parents’ house doesn’t mean you need to be so modest. After all, I’m not naive, I know young people these days like to ‘do it’ before getting married." 

“Mom!” Fero blushed as he stared over at Emmanuel, who looked half-awake, picking up his head from the pillow he was lying on.

Mrs. Feritas grinned and then said, “It’ll be more comfortable for everyone if you just don’t pretend.”

“Well we wouldn’t… the walls are thin, anyway,” Fero awkwardly replied.

Mrs. Feritas put her hands on her hips. “Well, that’s still no reason for you to not sleep in the same bed! Go on then, Fero… you’re probably dying to be in bed with your fiancé." 

Fero glanced over at Emmanuel, who was getting rosy-cheeked—which was weird for a ghost, he’d have to ask about that later—and then he squeaked out a laugh. “Uh… well, you said time for breakfast, right? Manny, let’s go get breakfast!”

“Manny... “ Emmanuel softly uttered out as Fero ran over to him, picking him up by the arm. Fero had never called him that nickname out loud, although it was a lot more convenient than calling Emmanuel by his full name.

“Manny, then!” Mrs. Feritas continued, “Of course—you said he’s a pastry chef, right? You can most definitely help me in the kitchen then. That is… if you don’t mind.”

Emmanuel bashfully grinned as he tried to tame his wavy hair. “Uh, I don’t mind…” 

He fixed his shirt to tuck it properly into his pants and then slipped on his shoes before Fero’s mom took him from Fero and eagerly led him to the kitchen.

Fero smiled and sighed in relief that he was able to get out of that one so smoothly. He took his time to stretch and put on a change of clothes before stepping out into the living room, where Lem was sitting reading a book and Hella was drinking coffee.

“Morning, Hella! Morning, Lem!” Fero smiled at them and then glanced over to the kitchen to see Emmanuel stuck helping his mother mix something in a bowl.

“Good morning,” Lem quietly replied, not looking well rested with bags under his eyes.

Fero coyly grinned at Lem, then scampered over to Emmanuel’s side. Well, he wasn’t going to be the only one that suffered through this.

“Morning, Manny!” Fero jumped up and turned into a dove to press a kiss to Emmanuel’s chin and then perch onto his shoulder. Emmanuel flinched in surprise, then smiled as he stared at dove Fero.

“Showing off for your boyfriend?” Lem muttered.

“Fiancé, remember?!” Fero said as he went back into halfling form, caught in mid-air by Emmanuel who laughed.

“You’re lively…” Emmanuel remarked.

“And you’re handsome!” Fero retorted with a wink.

Lem looked even more stressed as Emmanuel blushed. Fero finally saw for the first time that he really was quite cute if you looked at him from this angle. Not that he would let Lem or Emmanuel ever know that for real.

“Lem, Hella—did you sleep well?” Mr. Feritas asked as he walked into the living room.

“Oh, sure!” Lem said brightly, probably a lie.

“I should be heading back now. I promised to meet Hadrian today,” Hella said as she stood up. “Thank you for the coffee.”

“Hella, don’t you want to stay for breakfast?” Fero asked her.

Hella stared at Fero, lips moving into a forced grin. “Thanks, Fero, but I really have to get going.” As she said this, she picked up her large sword, which looked intimidating as she brandished it at her side. 

“Well, the young lady clearly has important business to take care of,” Mr. Feritas said as he smoked from his pipe. “It was nice to meet another friend of Fero’s!”

Hella nodded. “Thank you for your hospitality.” Then she turned around and left out the door.

“She’s a scary one, isn’t she?” Arva remarked. 

“Well, more food for us, right?!” Fero scooped up a biscuit from one of the baskets on the table, immediately getting scolded by his mother.

“Wait for everyone else to sit down, first!” Mrs. Feritas scolded.

Lem laughed. “Didn’t know you behaved like this in your own home, too!”

Fero shot a glare at him. “Whatever!”

Shortly after, everyone sat down for a breakfast of biscuits, gravy, and pastries Mrs. Feritas baked with Emmanuel’s help.

“So, about your engagement,” Mr. Feritas began.

Fero and Emmanuel nervously glanced at each other.

Mr. Feritas had his hands clasped as he rested them on the table. “I was wondering, why won’t we have the wedding while you’re here in Rosemerrow? It doesn’t matter if it’s sooner rather than later, right?”

Fero swallowed. Were his parents testing him? Did they guess at his lie?

Emmanuel’s eyes widened as he stared at Fero.

“Uh… why—why would we need to do that?” Fero asked.

Mrs. Feritas smiled. “Oh! Yes, that would be a wonderful idea! We could invite your siblings and all your aunts and uncles, some cousins—surely they could make it to your wedding if we gave them a couple weeks’ notice!" 

Lem looked worried and had his lips parted as if he were going to say something.

“Well, what do you say, Fero? Emmanuel?” Mr. Feritas looked at them both.

“Why do we need to rush?” Fero asked.

“If he gets Rosemerrow citizenship sooner than later, it’ll mean he’s more secure, right?” Mr. Feritas suggested. “You can always get a divorce later if you want, but you’re committed for now, right?”

“Um.”

“Yes! Yes, we are,” Emmanuel said as he reached over and grabbed Fero’s hand, which made Fero flinch in surprise this time. Emmanuel nervously smiled. “It doesn’t matter when we get married, right?”

Fero looked around the table, gauging everyone’s reactions. When his eyes reached Lem, he saw that Lem had been looking down at the table, the light gone from his eyes.

“…No, it doesn’t…” Fero finally replied. He managed a weak smile.

“Well, it’s settled!” Mrs. Feritas cheered. “We will have a wedding here! Of course… we will need to find someone to officiate it, and… oh, we’ll have to work on decorations and invitations, and—“

“Mom, stop! I’ll take care of it,” Fero told her as he placed a hand on her arm.

“Wow…. Fero, you’re gonna get married!” Arva grinned at him and Emmanuel. “How lovely, a winter wedding!”

 

+

 

A couple hours later, Fero, Lem, and Emmanuel traveled back to Roseheart on foot. Emmanuel needed to get back to work and Fero and Lem needed to figure out how to deal with the lie they were wrapped in now.

“Well, that didn’t work out like I thought it would,” Fero remarked as he placed his hands behind his head. 

“Really, Fero?” Lem bitterly replied.

Emmanuel sighed and shut his eyes. “I might as well just go tell an Ordennan that I’m a ghost and get my death over with now.”

“This isn’t even that bad!” Fero scowled. “If anything, this creates an even better case for you! If my entire family gets the idea we’re getting married, hey, that’s a better word for you all around Rosemerrow!”

“How in the hell are you able to see it that way?” Lem sneered. “He’s going to be lying to that many more people now!”

“It’s only a lie if we get found out—which we won’t,” Fero groaned with a roll of his eyes. “Because… I’m gonna get cold feet and back out of marrying him. But not before my family falls in love with your pastry chef and considers him family!”

Lem scoffed, “That’s your grand plan?”

“…You know, it kind of makes sense,” Emmanuel remarked with a tilt of his head. “…Even though this whole thing is so unnecessary…”

“See, Lem?” Fero slapped his arm and grinned up at him. “I”m a genius!”

“You’re planning this as you go and you don’t even know if it will work,” Lem grumbled. 

“Whatever! I’m the only one who’s been thinking of any good ideas! So you better be grateful!”

“Grateful that I can’t be with my boyfriend in Rosemerrow, now? Because now he’s _your_ boyfriend according to your family and it will have to appear that way anywhere we go in  public?”

Fero swallowed. “Uh…”

“It’ll only be temporary,” Emmanuel told Lem to chastise him. He placed a gentle hand on Lem’s shoulder. “We’ll cancel the wedding soon and then you’ll be my rebound.”

Lem sighed, though his mouth pulled into a smile as he glanced at Emmanuel. “Well, I’m glad you have some optimism about this.”

Emmanuel shortly laughed. “Me, an optimist? Who would’ve thought?”

Lem smiled bigger as he stared at Emmanuel until Fero loudly cleared his throat.

“Hey! Well, before that can happen and you both get to ride off into the sunset together… we need to do some work. We have to plan a wedding and then cancel it, and there’s no way I’m letting my family be in charge of any of that.”

“Right,” Lem replied as he looked over at Fero. “Any ideas yet?”

Fero scrunched his mouth into a pout. “Well… This is a complex scam we have to pull off. It might not be too bad if we had a professional.”

“A professional scammer?” Lem asked.

“Exactly.” Fero grinned. “And I have just the person in mind…”

 

+

 

Fero and Lem parted ways with Emmanuel once they got to Roseheart—he went to work while they tracked down Hella and Hadrian, who were sitting and talking in the pub at the inn they were staying at. 

“Hey, Hella!”

As soon as Hella met eyes with Fero, she frowned and turned away. “I’m done helping you.”

Fero pursed his lips in contempt. “I’m not looking for you—I’m looking for Adaire. I thought she’d be with you. You know where she is?”

Hella turned back to him and frowned. “You’re not bringing her into this mess, either!”

Fero rolled his eyes. “Well, I’ll leave that up to her. Just help me find her.”

“I think she went to the fashion district, said something about getting new boots,” Hadrian offered.

Hella glared as she pressed a sharp elbow into his chest. “Hadrian! Don’t help them!”

Hadrian gasped and grimaced in a wounded expression. “Hey, they’re gonna look for her anyway…”

Hella sighed. “What do you want her for?”

“Why are you being so defensive?” Lem casually asked.

Hella glared. “I’m not!”

Fero crossed his arms and walked up to Hadrian. “Well, while Adaire’s not here, at least we have a Paladin we can ask to get us a marriage officiator on short notice. What d’ya say, Hadrian?”

Hadrian raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “No way.”

“What? Fuckin… come on!” Fero whined.

“I am not going to get mixed up with your harebrained scheme! Hella told me all about it,” Hadrian said. “Besides, I wouldn’t trust the clergy here…”

Fero groaned. “Ugh, you’re no help! Look, you could even pretend to be a priest, and all you would have to do is lie! No one here knows the difference when you’re wearing all those weird clothes!”

“That’s great, Fero…” Lem sarcastically remarked.

Fero groaned. “Well… Hadrian, can you at least point us in the direction of a priest that we _can_ blackmail?”

“Fero!” Hella groaned.

“Look—we just need someone to help us pull off a scam wedding. Adaire likes scams, so maybe she can help, that’s all we want,” Fero explained.

“She would be your girl,” Hadrian agreed with a hearty nod.

Hella sighed. “Then I’m going with you so she knows exactly what kind of bullshit she’s dealing with.”

Lem and Fero grinned at each other. “Thanks, Hella!”

 

+

 

“You need my help?” Adaire asked a couple hours later as she sat upon a chaise with her arms crossed. Lem, Fero, and Hella were all gathered around the same small glass table between them in a crowded tea house in the fashion district of Roseheart. It was frilly and fancy with richly colored decor, reminding Fero of the way Adaire dressed. She was sporting new boots that smelled of fresh leather—or just leather polish—and looked more durable for the snow.

Fero grinned over at Adaire and started, “Well—we heard you like scams—so, we could use your help on this one.”

“Look at you, Hella! Helping out others,” Adaire remarked with a smirk as she met eyes with Hella, who was standing instead of sitting. 

Hella rolled her eyes, though a smirk curved its way onto her mouth. “Yeah, well… I’m just...the muscle, really…”

“So how much?” Adaire asked, addressing Fero this time

“How much?” Fero echoed with a frown.

“How much are you going to pay me?” Adaire asked with a roll of her eyes.

“Pay you?” Lem asked.

“Yeah, I’m not helping you pull off a scam for free.”

 “What?! But we’re on the same team, kind of…” Fero protested.

“And you’re in the half of the team with more money.” Adaire leisurely sighed as she uncrossed her legs and moved to stand. “I mean, I’ve got places to be if you don’t want my help, so that’s fine…”

“Wait!” Lem protested. “We do want your help...I think.”

Adaire sat back down and smiled. “If the price is right, I’ll do it. So let me hear it.”

Lem explained, “We’re going to help Emmanuel get citizenship in Rosemerrow...or...at least make it seem like he’s getting citizenship.”

Adaire frowned. “Hey, I’m a mapmaker, not a document forger…”

“We don’t need you to forge anything. Actually, it’s a bit, um… well, you can explain it, Lem,” Fero said as he clapped a hand on his elbow.

Lem shot Fero a glare. “It was _your_ stupid idea! You explain it!”

“It’s your boyfriend!” Fero argued.

Hella huffed in frustration, “Fero lied to his family and told them he’s going to marry Emmanuel to get him citizenship in Rosemerrow.”

Adaire was quiet, but she raised her eyebrows. Then a giggle burst forth from her lips and she smiled. “Nice.”

Lem frowned. “No, it’s not nice! Now Fero has to convince his family that he’s marrying someone he doesn’t even love!”

“You’re not taking it very well, are you?” Adaire questioned.

“Look—we had to think quickly and it was the most convenient thing,” Fero said. “So… I mean, obviously I’m not really going to marry the guy.”

“So… you need a fake marriage license?” Adaire asked.

“Not even!” Fero replied confidently. “Besides, if there’s a marriage my family’s gonna want to be at the ceremony, even if it is just a City Hall ceremony, and even if we ‘eloped’ my family would probably try and force me to have an actual wedding later anyway.”

Adaire quirked an eyebrow up. “So… why do you need me?”

Hella cleared her throat. “Well… you’re good at bullshitting people so they thought maybe you could help them pull off a charade of some sort to get Fero’s family to believe they’re legit.”

“But… you’re not trying to actually get Emmanuel citizenship?”

“He just needs protection and a place to stay while the Ordennans roam,” Fero explained. “There’s tons of people living in Rosemerrow who aren’t legal citizens but a guy with a weird accent with no family or kin in Rosemerrow is very suspicious… so we’re giving him a family, sort of…”

“So the real scam is Emmanuel making your family fall in love with him,” Adaire mused out loud. “Why doesn’t he just feed them all crêpes? He’s pretty good at making them.”

“That’s not enough,” Lem said. “And we don’t want Fero to actually marry Emmanuel, but his family thinks it’s gonna happen now so we have no choice but to carry on with the charade.”

“So… how do I help?” Adaire asked.

“I mean, you have really good taste in things, so… what if you pretended to be the wedding planner?” Hella asked. “Y’know, make it seem like they’re actually serious about getting married, and then they break up before it can happen.”

“Hella, did you think of this?” Adaire asked with a bright look in her eyes. 

“Well… Fero had the idea to get someone to pretend to be a wedding planner. But…you are the perfect person for the job.”

“Aww, you really think so?” Adaire beamed.

“Ahem! So? Can you do it or not?” Fero asked impatiently.

Adaire turned back to Fero. “Well if I’m gonna plan a wedding, you better pay me as much as you would a wedding planner.”

“That’s way too much! We’re not even getting married!” Fero protested.

“Hey, sometimes couples go through an entire wedding planning process just to get cold feet and cancel at the last minute! You think they get a refund? No way, the wedding business is brutal,” Adaire explained. “Come to think of it… maybe that’s where I should concentrate my scams next… but it does get a bit messy when you involve couples and families… I bet this church of Samothes crap could probably work better for me if people were getting married in churches.. huh...”

“Adaire…” Hella groaned.

“How much?” Lem asked.

 Adaire grinned at him. “I mean… if you can only afford a cheap wedding planner, you’re gonna get a cheap wedding planner.”

Fero groaned. “Just tell us a number!”

Adaire grinned. “We’ll talk details later. But you have yourselves a wedding planner!”

 

+

 

The next day, Adaire made a visit to the Feritas house. She and Fero arranged for her to come and pose as a wedding planner to sell the scam to his family. Of course, that was all Adaire agreed to and she didn’t elaborate on what exactly she would do. Fero and Lem later caught up with Emmanuel, so he had also come alone to visit the house as Fero’s fiancé.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Feritas, my name is Adaire Ducarte. I am your son’s wedding planner.” Adaire introduced herself with a curtsy. “So… I heard you wanted to have a backyard wedding of some sort? I’m here to check out the house layouts, get some more concrete ideas of how to arrange all the decorations, color schemes, and also do measurements for everyone to send to the dressmakers. This is why I’ve brought the wedding party, too.”

Lem and Hella came in right after Adaire—and then Fero was surprised to see Ephrim walk into his house, decked out in his finest fur clothing, cape included, and jewels that adorned him from head to toe.

“Oh, my! Who is this?” Mrs. Feritas asked. Mr. Feritas also dropped his jaw in awe.

“We couldn’t find a priest on such short notice to perform the ceremony, but I did bring the next best thing—or something even better!” Adaire grinned and made a flourishing gesture with her hand to present Ephrim. “Fero and Emmanuel will receive the blessing from a Prince of Samothes. This is Prince Ephrim—umm, what was your full title again?”

Ephrim took in a breath and quickly replied, “The Gifted, His Summer Son, Lord of the Coming Spring, Prophet of the Unwavering Flame, Silver Hand of Samothes—but you can just call me Prince Ephrim. It is very nice to meet you!”  

Ephrim walked forward and shook hands vigorously with both of Fero’s parents. He smiled brightly at each of them. “Your son Fero was such a helpful assistant to me while I was on business here in Rosemerrow.”

“A helpful what?!” Fero exclaimed.

“It is so good to see you, Fero,” Ephrim told him in a phony, charming tone. “Yes, he’s been such a helpful guide, showing me all the charming little villages here. I would be honored to bestow him with what little blessing I can give as a humble prince of our Lord Samothes to ensure a fortuitous union.”

Arva remarked, “Wow, you have so many interesting friends, Fero…”

Mrs. Feritas blushed as Ephrim still held her hand. “Well, of course Fero and Manny will receive a blessing from such a Prince!" 

Mr. Feritas cleared his throat, “But dear, we don’t even believe in—“

“Shush, Mr. Feritas!” Mrs. Feritas cleared her throat and turned towards the dining table. “Please, Prince Ephrim, Miss Ducarte—have a seat and I can treat you to some tea and biscuits—although I’m not sure I have anything a prince would be accustomed to.”

Ephrim placed up a hand in defense. “Please don’t worry yourself, Mrs. Feritas, I am truly humbled and honored to be a guest in anyone’s home. Especially Fero’s family.”

“Oh, you are so polite…” Mrs. Feritas said, looking like she had hearts in her eyes.

“Hey, don’t use your smolder powers on my family,” Fero hissed at Ephrim as soon as his parents were distracted. 

Ephrim rolled his eyes and sighed. “Please, Fero—that’s just my natural charisma and beauty.”

Lem and Fero both looked at each other with groans, but eventually Fero was glad for the distraction Ephrim created with his presence. Fero’s family seemed more fascinated with having a Prince of Samothes at their dining table than with having Adaire prepare wedding plans—although Adaire took that opportunity of distraction to start actually looking around the house to make plans, drawing on a sketchbook she carried with her. 

“Hey, you’re not really going to decorate this place are you?” Fero asked after he followed her into the living room.

“Of course I am! That’s what you’re paying me for, right?” Adaire answered.

Fero groaned. 

“Was it really necessary for you to bring the prince?” Hella asked with her arms crossed.

“He’s a better liar than Hadrian and clearly in need of validation,” Adaire nonchalantly explained. “He’s perfect for the job.”

Hella grumbled, “Well why do I have to be here still?” 

“Aww, you don’t want me to take your measurements? I mean, a wedding’s not gonna actually happen but I think you could use some alternate outfits in your wardrobe.” Adaire grinned up at Hella before adding, “You know, for when you’re not stabbing people.”

“Adaire…” Hella rolled her eyes and sighed.

“At the very least, girls gotta stick together, right?” Adaire said with a wink. “Besides… what could be more interesting in Rosemerrow than watching Fero’s trainwreck of a scam unfold?”

“Hey!”  Fero remarked. 

“Fero, can we go talk in private?” It was Emmanuel who had addressed him, and who had spent most of the last ten minutes just talking to Lem.

Fero raised his eyebrows. “Uh—you want to talk to me?”

Emmanuel nodded. “Yes, now, please.”

“Uh, okay.” Emmanuel walked towards Fero’s bedroom and Fero glanced to see looks of puzzlement on all his friends’ faces.

“You sure all of this is even necessary for our plan?” Emmanuel whispered to Fero once they got into his room. 

“Yeah, Adaire’s gonna make us seem like we’re legit getting married,” Fero replied.

Emmanuel crossed his arms. “So… now you’re legitimately planning a wedding… what’s going to happen when we break up? And then your family…”

Fero smirked. “The trick is you need to make them fall in love with you regardless of being engaged to me or not.”

“So this is all on me now,” Emmanuel muttered.

“Hey, you’re the ghost here, not me!”

Emmanuel narrowed his eyes at Fero. “Some friend you are to Lem, you know? I mean, helping me out of the goodness of your heart would have been one thing, and you can’t even do that. Do you even care about anyone but yourself?”

Fero frowned. “Hey, I didn’t have to do this at all! Be a bit more grateful!”

Emmanuel wryly laughed, giving Fero a sarcastic grin. “That’s right.... You’re just doing this for Lem, the only person you care about!”

Before Fero could properly reply, they were interrupted.

“Fero!” It was his mother who called. “You and Manny need to come here now.”

Emmanuel was the first one to leave the room, Fero just a step behind him. When they reached the living room, everyone was standing round with the nice glasses of what looked like cider or some other pale ale in their hands.

“Son, we’re all going to make a toast to you getting married,” Mr. Feritas announced.

“Didn’t we have one like the first night I told you guys?” Fero said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well, now it’s official!” Arva chimed in with a bright smile. “Now that you’re actually getting the wedding planned. It’s all very exciting!”

“My handsome boy with a handsome fiancé…” Mrs. Feritas tearfully smiled as she continued, “I’m so happy you found someone! And that you found your way back to Rosemerrow.”

Fero awkwardly smiled. He wasn’t actually getting married and he didn’t plan on being in Rosemerrow much longer. The truth would devastate his family.

Mrs. Feritas continued, “Let’s hope for many more seasons of happiness for Fero and the Feritas family—that’s going to include you too, Manny!"

Emmanuel smiled in what looked like a painful expression to Fero.

“To the soon-to-be-wed couple!” Adaire cheered, raising her glass.

“To Fero and Emmanuel!” Arva cheered, everyone else repeating before drinking and clapping their hands. Fero felt so awkward standing at the center of this cheering with Emmanuel and he just wanted this entire thing to end.

“Oh, you two don’t have drinks!” Arva remarked as she walked up to Fero. “Well, you can toast with a kiss, then!”

“Huh?!” Fero blushed as he looked over at Emmanuel, who also looked worried.

“Well, go on, kiss!” Mrs. Feritas egged on.

Fero opened his mouth in a grimace of horror. “No!”

“Aww, don’t make him do it dear, he’s bashful!” Mr. Feritas protested.

“Right, this is the first boy he’s brought home,” Arva whispered to Lem. “Well, besides you." 

“I can hear you, you know!” Fero said.

Emmanuel turned to Fero and gripped him by the arm as he bent low to meet his eye level. “Fero, kiss me.”

“What?!” Fero hissed.

“We have to play this out all the way, right?”

“Umm…”

“Just kiss me, idiot!” Before Fero could say anything in retort, Emmanuel leaned forward and closed the distance between them with a kiss.

Fero’s eyes shot wide open as he stood absolutely still. All he could focus on was Emmanuel’s lips on his and Emmanuel’s wavy hair softly brushing against his cheeks as the entire room became quiet to him. Emmanuel’s lips were softer and less cold than Fero thought they would be, and he found himself involuntarily closing his eyes and leaning into the kiss as Emmanuel sucked on his lower lip.

When Emmanuel released Fero and stood up straight again, Fero felt a bit dazed. Then he glanced around him. Amidst all the cheering and clapping he caught eyes with Lem, who looked like he was in pain. 

When he turned back to look at Emmanuel, Fero wanted to scream—his first kiss ever was with his best friend’s ghost pirate pastry chef boyfriend. In front of his parents. As part of lie that they were getting married.

Emmanuel looked unbothered and casually smiled. After everyone was distracted and talking again, Fero saw Lem walking out of the room, so he immediately went after him. But before he could move far, he was stopped with a hand on his shoulder by Hella.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked.

“I gotta go after Lem, he’s—“

Hella hissed as she spun him around, “Stay and put on a smile. Act like you’re engaged!”

“This is fucking mortifying!” Fero groaned.

“Oh honey, you need this more than I do, don’t you?” Adaire asked as she offered him her glass of cider.

“Why are you calling me honey?” Fero growled. “Is it that bad?”

Hella and Adaire laughed.

“You know, now I almost feel bad I charged you full price for this gig… almost,” Adaire remarked with a wink.

 

+

 

After waiting a few minutes and noticing that Lem wasn’t in the room anymore, Fero slipped out from the party and towards the front porch, where he found Lem sitting along a cold bench. 

“Lem!” Fero called out.

Lem whipped his head to look at Fero, his expression indiscernible.

Fero gasped out, “Lem… it wasn’t real!”

Lem breathed out a laugh. “Of course it wasn’t! I know that, Fero.”

 Fero cleared his throat. “Then why… why did you leave?”

Lem sighed and glanced down. “This is really hard for me. Fero, I just got him back…”

Fero rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Got him back? He barely even had him in Nacre…

“I didn’t _want_ to kiss him…” Fero said.

“Didn’t look like that from where I stood. But… that’s good, right? If you’re more convincing, then  that’s going to help Emmanuel, right?”

“Why are you getting so worked up over this? You know it’s fake.”

Lem scoffed. “Right. Well, maybe I just miss my boyfriend and I don’t like seeing him hold your hand or kiss you. It hurts, Fero.”

“IT’S FAKE!” 

Fero covered his mouth with his hand incase anyone heard his shouting from inside.

“Yeah, it is fake,” Lem sighed. “But you’re enjoying it. Having fun at my expense.”

“Not everything is about you,” Fero grumbled. “I’m doing this for Emmanuel.”

“I still find that hard to believe. You don’t give a shit about him.”

Fero frowned. “Then why am I doing all of this, Lem?”

Lem was quiet. 

“Is it so hard to believe that I can do something good for once?”

“I didn’t say that,” Lem said as he turned to face Fero. “You never liked Emmanuel. So why are you helping him?”

Fero didn’t answer because he heard footsteps approach him and Lem on the porch.

“Lem. Are you okay?” 

It was Emmanuel who showed up.

Lem’s face brightened up. “Emmanuel!”

Emmanuel stepped towards him tentatively. “Hey, you know… that kiss didn’t mean anything, right?” 

Fero felt an awkward pang in his chest.

“Uh…” Lem glanced at his feet. “I…”

“Why did you walk away like that?” Emmanuel asked.

“Sorry… I was being a bit dramatic, huh?” Lem pathetically laughed.

Emmanuel shook his head. “You were jealous?”

“Ah—no… I….”

Emmanuel grinned. “It’s okay. It’s… flattering. You like me that much…”

Lem blushed.

Emmanuel placed a hand on Lem’s elbow and continued in a soft voice, “Hey, you’re the only one I want to kiss, you know that, right?”

“Ahem! Should I leave you two alone?” Fero grumbled as he stood next to them, shivering.

“No… We should get back inside.” Emmanuel grinned at Lem.

“Yes, of course!” Lem looked like he had heart eyes all over again, completely lost in Emmanuel. “Sorry for being such an idiot.”

“It’s okay. This will be over soon, I’m sure,” Emmanuel replied.

Fero felt a heavy weight in his chest, feeling small and practically invisible as he walked behind the two. Fero had never seen Lem look so happy as he did when he gazed into Emmanuel’s eyes, and he can’t even remember the last time Lem looked happy around him. These days, Lem was happier without Fero, it seemed. 

  

+

 

After all the excitement, most of Fero’s traveling mates left, but Emmanuel was invited to stay over again with the Feritas family, so he and Fero shared his bedroom again.

They were quiet for a long while as they winded down before going to sleep. Emmanuel was reading a book and Fero had been studying a few of the old gemstones he had in his room.

Fero soon grew tired of the awkward silence and cleared his throat. “Hey…”

Emmanuel put down his book and looked over at Fero. “Hey.”

Fero stood up and held the gemstone in his hands, fiddling with it as he spoke. “Look, I… want to just talk.”

“About?”

“I… I don’t want you to die. That’s why I’m helping you.”

Emmanuel gazed at Fero for a few seconds before answering, “Because it will make Lem sad.”

“Well, yeah, but… I mean, it’s not like that’s the only reason.”

Emmanuel tilted his head. “It isn’t?”

Fero shook his head. “No. It also seems like the right thing to do. And I… I used to be so sure I always knew what the right thing was to do. That I would always do it.”

Emmanuel lost the tense expression in his brow. “You didn’t want us spreading the curse from Nacre. And you fled while Nacre was getting destroyed, all the innocent people getting murdered and permanently displaced.”

“Hey, we tried to get out of there without making any trouble! And it was your queen who wanted it—”

“I know. Lem told me the full story.” Emmanuel pursed his lips. “About how you and that Ordennan also killed Empress Adelaide… Was that all the right thing to do?”

Fero sighed. “It was, at the time. We only went to Nacre to save our friend and he… and then Hella… and then everything went to shit.”

Emmanuel also sighed. “Look, I’m not here to hash out things in the past that we can’t change. 

“Me neither.”

“So?”

Fero stared hard into the gemstone in his hands. “So… let’s stop being mad at each other for right now and help each other through this mess.”

“One that you caused.”

Fero rolled his eyes. “I was trying to help…”

“Don’t you mean you were trying to help Lem?”

“Well Lem hates me because of the way I did it so that’s not really a good reason anymore,” Fero said with a laugh. “For real… I don’t want you to die. Not if I can help it. I’ve already made grave mistakes in the past, I’m not going to make another one by letting you potentially get killed when I can help make that Not Happen.”

“Okay.” Emmanuel stood up and walked over to Fero. Then he stuck out a hand.

Fero frowned. “What?”

“A peace treaty offering.”

Fero snorted. “Wow, you’re such a dork. No wonder Lem likes you.”

“Hey!”

“Deal,” Fero said as he grabbed Emmanuel’s hand and shook it. 

“So what’s the plan?”

“We’re going to get my family to love you. And then I’m gonna break up with you.”

“Lovely,” Emmanuel replied.

  

+

 

In the morning, Fero awoke to an empty bed and wondered where Emmanuel could be. When he walked out into the living rom with a yawn, he heard his mother’s delighted laughter and then another laugh that was warm and newly familiar.

He looked over and saw that they were both hovering over the stove and Emmanuel was helping his mother fold over a crêpe. 

“The trick is all in the flick of your wrist,” Emmanuel told her.

“Fero, isn’t this wonderful! Manny woke up early just to show me how to make crêpes. Look!”

Fero glanced at the counter and there were four crêpes topped with hazelnut cream, sliced fruits, and whipped cream.

“Where did you get all this stuff from?” Fero asked. “I’ve only seen it at restaurants in Roseheart…”

“I brought some supplies home from work,” Emmanuel said with a shrug. “Thought I could show your mom how to make crêpes.”

“And I am so grateful for it!” Mrs. Feritas blushed. “Oh, I’ll have to give you some money to get us some more!”

“No, that’s not necessary! And… you’ll be family, right?” Emmanuel asked.

Mrs. Feritas bashfully glanced away. “Yes, you’re right! Well, let me get Mr. Feritas and Arva to come to breakfast!

Fero felt his mouth curve up involuntarily.

“What was that?” Emmanuel asked as soon as Mrs. Feritas left the room.

“What was what?” Fero asked.

Emmanuel smirked at Fero. “You smiled.”

Fero narrowed his eyes. “So?”

Emmanuel smugly grinned. “I’m pretty charming, huh?”

“Whatever,” Fero said as he crossed his arms. 

Emmanuel quietly laughed. “Here, come sit down, I made yours special.”

Fero sat down and then Emmanuel slid over a plate with a crêpe on it, and saw that someone had drizzled hazelnut cream into a face with a tongue sticking out.

Fero’s mouth dropped and he grinned, then looked over at Emmanuel, who was smiling as his family entered the dining room.

“Hey, you’re mean!” Fero complained as he stared at Emmanuel.

Emmanuel glanced over at Fero and then laughed, wrinkles forming by his eyes. “Thought it was cute. Like you.”

Fero felt his cheeks warm. 

“Oh, you two, so sweet!” Mrs. Feritas remarked. “Reminds me of when Mr. Feritas used to flirt with me when we were young.”

“We’re not flirting!” Fero shouted.

Emmanuel laughed and then cleared his throat. “I did make yours the biggest, though. I know how much you like my crêpes.”

Fero felt himself blush against his will. That wasn’t something he could easily lie against. 

“Fero, what do you say?” Mr. Feritas addressed him.

Fero sighed. “Thank you…”

“No thanks necessary! Seeing your face now… it’s worth it all.” Emmanuel said this with a wink and coy grin. Fero couldn’t stand it.

 

+

 

The next day, ice water started leaking into the house from the roof. It was caused from the snow that seeped its way through the slats on the roof, so Mr. Feritas asked Fero and Emmanuel if they could help reinforce the roof the next day.

All three of them were on the roof, hammering and placing new planks of wood over anything that looked like it had a crevice, though without sunlight this proved difficult. 

“Just watch your step, boys,” Mr. Feritas warned as he hammered. “Fero, hand me the next plank.”

“We could probably get this done faster if all of us worked at the same time,” Emmanuel offered.

“Or if I could turn myself into a hammer,” Fero added.

“What?” Emmanuel frowned in confusion, which Fero saw through the dim lantern light. 

“I’m gonna start doing some work over here,” Emmanuel said as he picked up a plank, a couple nails, and spare hammer. He gingerly walked across the roof, which still had plenty of snow on it.

“Well, don’t fall down and die—again,” Fero laughed, then he noticed his dad was still right there. “Uh, I mean—yeah that was so funny that one time… that you fell. And didn’t die.That’s what I meant—don’t _fall down_ again!”

“Fero… give me a couple more nails,” was all Mr. Feritas said, completely ignoring Fero's babbling.

“Idiot,” Emmanuel said with a quiet laugh.

“What did you call me?!” Fero frowned and stomped over to Emmanuel—but he didn’t watch his step and slipped, hitting his chin and sliding backwards down the roof.

“Fero!” It was Emmanuel who had shouted and rushed over. 

Fero scrambled to get himself upright as he slid, and just when he thought about trying to turn into a bird, he felt his wrist get grabbed roughly. He glanced up and saw Emmanuel spread out on his stomach, arm outstretched for Fero. 

“Hey, grab my other arm!” he frantically told Fero.

Fero reached up and grabbed Emmanuel's free arm, then tried to stand, though his feet still slipped along the sleet-covered roof.

“It’s not working… Just let me go, and I’ll turn into a bird,” Fero told Emmanuel. 

“But if I let you go and you—just hold on to me!” Emmanuel groaned as he pulled with all his might and brought Fero up in one movement as he rolled so now Fero was on top of him and Emmanuel was on his back.

Fero breathed in deep, then realized he was pressed close to Emmanuel’s chest. 

“You okay?” Emmanuel gasped out.

Fero blushed at the position they were in and then sat up—realizing that was probably worse now that he was straddling Emmanuel—

“Are you two all right?!” Mr. Feritas asked. “This is why we all needed to be together to do this.”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Fero said.

“All good,” Emmanuel replied as he looked up at Fero.

Fero cleared his throat and scrambled to get off of Emmanuel, but then he felt his arm get grabbed again.

“Easy, or you’ll fall again,” Emmanuel told him.

“Yeah,” Fero replied, still feeling a bit bashful about the whole thing. “Thank you.”

Emmanuel smiled. “No problem. Although, you have to admit…you kind of deserved it.”

“WOW MANNY,” Fero said, crossing his arms.

Emmanuel laughed and then softly clapped a hand on Fero’s shoulder as he stood up. “I wouldn’t ever let anything happen to you, though. Don’t worry.”

Fero was confused. What was this warm weird feeling in his chest?

 

+

 

After that episode, Mr. Feritas said they could finish reinforcing the roof another time and they all went back inside to take warm baths (and to Fero’s horror Mrs. Feritas suggested he and Manny take a bath together to save hot water) to recover from being covered in snow. Then they all sat by the fireplace to dry off.

Fero’s parents decided to tell some stories about Fero as a child and Emmanuel was smiling and laughing with them the whole night. It… felt right. It felt normal being like this. Like Fero could get used to it. That was weird.

After he and Emmanuel both went to Fero’s bedroom to get ready for bed, Fero noticed that Emmanuel was taking time to fiddle with a geode he had resting on his desk.

“You like rocks?” Fero asked, making Emmanuel glance up quickly as he nervously put the geode back on the desk.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in Nacre.” Emanuel smiled as he looked around at all of Fero’s other trinkets. “You know, apart from feeling like I could be murdered by Ordennans any day, it’s been… exhilarating being able to travel and see all this culture in Rosemerrow. It’s so different here.”

Fero sat down on his bed and tilted his head in thought. “I guess I never thought about it like that. Rosemerrow’s trying to go back to the ‘old’ ways to preserve tradition and… I hate it. There’s so much out there, who wants to just stay the same forever and never leave?”

Emmanuel sat down on the bed next to Fero. “You know… now that you say that, it kind of makes more sense why you feel the way you do. Nacre was kind of like that, too. That’s why I went with Brandish on all those expeditions. It was exciting to travel to new places, discover new foods—I definitely wasn’t cut out to be a pirate, though.”

Fero giggled, and then he smiled at Emmanuel. “You know, you’re not that bad, Manny.”

Emmanuel’s eyes brightened. “Wow! A compliment. Am I awake? This isn’t a dream?”

“Only if you dream about me giving you compliments.” Fero rolled his eyes.

Emmanuel gave him a flat stare. “No, I don’t.”

Fero laughed. “I mean it… it’s been kind of fun having you around.”

Emmanuel smirked. “Well, it was kind of fun being here and being around you and your family.”

“Whoa. What is this? Are we… are we actually getting along?” Fero asked jokingly.

Emmanuel laughed and threw his head back. “Well maybe now you kind of like me?”

“Let’s not go that far…” Fero rolled his eyes, though he was grinning.

“It has been fun, though. really. I just wish…”

“What?”

Emmanuel sighed and lost his bright look. “I just… wish Lem could feel better about this whole situation, you know? I mean, we already have limited time as it is to see each other and… now he’s not even able to be with me. It’s…” Emmanuel trailed off into a sigh.

Fero felt his heart sink. He looked down and swallowed. ”Right… I’m sure it’s really painful for you to kiss someone you’re not attracted to at all and who you don’t care for.”

“Fero, that’s not true.”

“Yeah? Lem’s tall and bookish and he has a bun and I’m… small. And my hair’s messy, and I’ve got rocks and plants growing on me.”

“I think it’s cute.”

“You what?”

“I think you’re cute.”

Fero could feel himself blushing and for a second thought about turning into sand to hide it.

“It could be a lot worse is all I’m saying,” Emmanuel continued.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’d rather be kissing Lem.”

“Well, yes. But kissing you… it’s nice, too.”

“It was?” Fero’s cheeks were on fire now.

“Yeah, actually.” Emmanuel looked at him warmly.

“How is it… kissing Lem?” Fero asked, looking down as he twisted his pants into his fingers. “You know, with his tusks?”

Emmanuel tilted his head and looked up in thought. “I never really thought about it…  I guess they feel kind of like teeth, but they’re really nice, and smooth. Of course, when you kiss for a while or get rough, uh… just gotta be careful about bruising. He’s always gentle, though.” Emmanuel seemed to be wistfully staring into nothing now.

“Oh…” Fero finally responded. “Of course…”

Emmanuel turned to him. “Something wrong, Fero?”

“What? Nothing!” Fero glanced up and smiled.

Emmanuel scrunched his mouth into a pout and gave him a stare. “You’re lying.”

Fero blinked and looked away. “It’s nothing. Just… I fucked up what you guys have, huh?”

“Huh?”

Fero sighed. “You two want to be together and the sun’s gone and… who knows if the world’s gonna end or not and I’m the one keeping you two apart and…”

“Hey, this is fine. You’re helping me be safer. We’ll figure it out.” Emmanuel grabbed Fero’s shoulder and gently squeezed. Fero looked into his big, warm, and soulful eyes and believed him.

Fero gently smiled. “I think I kind of see what Lem sees in you, now…”

Emmanuel breathed out a laugh. “Really? I guess I can kind of see what he sees in you, too. Despite being a bit of an asshole, I think you’re a good person, Fero.”

Fero softly laughed while Emmanuel’s lips curved into an attractive and warm smile. But then he shook his head and raised an eyebrow. “Why are you laughing? I mean it.”

Fero lost his smile, replacing it with a gaping mouth of surprise. “You’re serious?”

Emmanuel nodded. “Of course I am.”

“You think I’m a good person?” Fero asked him. Emmanuel nodded again. 

“Oh. That’s… no one’s told me that before,” Fero quietly said. He glanced over at Emmanuel who looked a bit sad this time, but still smiled at him.

Suddenly, Fero felt an unfamiliar urge—his heart felt so full from seeing that expression on Emmanuel’s face, from hearing those words, and he couldn’t stop himself from doing what he did next.

Fero leaned forward and quickly pressed a kiss to Emmanuel’s lips, grasping his hair to keep steady. Emmanuel flinched for only a second before he brought a hand to cup Fero’s jaw and kiss him back. They kissed for several seconds and Fero got lost in it, feeling calm and warm in Emmanuel’s hold.

But then Fero thought about Lem, so he wrenched himself away from Emmanuel.

“Fuck, I’m sorry—I—” Fero stood up and didn’t know what to say. So he started to walk away.

“Fero.” Emmanuel reached out to grab his hand.

“Look, you have nice lips, okay? That’s it!” Fero shook himself free of Emmanuel’s hold.

Emmanuel tensed his brow in confusion. “What, you’re not even going to sit down and talk about this?”

“Nothing to talk about!”

“Well… we still have to sleep in the same room, genius. Doubt you’ll be silent for that long.”

“We’re not really getting married and Lem is your boyfriend!” Fero shut his mouth and covered it with a hand as he realized he was being loud. “So… yeah, nothing to talk about. At all.”

Emmanuel ran a hand through his hair. “Fero…”

Fero was sand.

Emmanuel sighed and got ready for bed.

 

+

 

Fero transformed back into a halfling once Emmanuel was asleep, and he quietly left the house in the form of a crow, flying and flying until he found himself among the lights of Roseheart.

He landed next to the pub  adjacent to the inn the others were staying at, and he saw Throndir sitting at the bar with Kodiak right next to him..

“Hey, Throndir!” Fero greeted as he hopped to sit on the empty bar stool next to him.

Throndir turned around, a surprised grin on his face. “Oh! Fero! Hi!”

“What are you doing here?” Fero asked.

“Could ask you the same thing…” Throndir had a crease on his brow. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Flank Fields?”

“I… needed some fresh air.”

Throndir nodded. “Is everything okay, buddy?”

Fero pasted a fake grin on his face. “Yeah, it’s fine!”

“I still think it’s great what you’re doing for Emmanuel!” Throndir remarked.

Fero leaned his elbow on the counter and smashed his cheek into his palm. “Yeah…”

“Hey. Is there really something wrong?”

Fero bit his lip. “Nah, of course not!”

Throndir gave Fero a concerned stare. “Hey Fero, you’re my friend, too. So if you wanna talk I’m all ears!”

Fero sighed. He didn’t really feel like talking to the tree-hugger elf he barely knew. But maybe it was better that Throndir wasn’t close to him.

“You seen Lem around lately?” Fero asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, he’s back at the inn where we were staying. Looking for him?”

“Nah, he… probably doesn’t want to see me.”

Throndir tilted his head, eyes widening in concern. “Really? Aren’t you two like best friends?”

Fero shrugged. 

“What’s going on with you two?” Throndir asked.

“Well I’m marrying his boyfriend,” Fero said with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Not for real though, right? Right?”

“Uh… no, of course not!”

“Then...what’s the matter?”

Fero gave Throndir an unamused side glance. “Look, no offense but I’m not drunk enough for this conversation.” 

“Well… have a drink on me then!” Throndir grinned as he slid his mug of beer towards Fero.

“Thanks. You’re too nice for your own good, Throndir. It’s gonna get you in trouble one day. Or worse.”

“No worse trouble than dying, huh...” Throndir said under his breath.

“Hmm?”

“Uh… nothing! Dying is the worst trouble, right? Aha, so that’s what I have to watch out for. I’m not going to let anyone ever catch me off guard again.” Throndir’s eyes grew dark. “If I ever see Arrell again… I’m not even going to give him an opening before I kill him.”

Fero nodded and swallowed, feeling uncomfortable with the sudden intensity in Throndir’s voice. “Hey, so.. You gonna get another drink too?’

“Oh! Yeah! You know… I can drink so much now, it’s great!” Throndir was grinning wide.

Fero raised an eyebrow. “Okay… You haven’t really got out much either, have you Throndir?"

Throndir bashfully laughed. “Aha… yeah, I guess…”

Throndir seemed weird to Fero, but he was good company and soon enough Throndir got Fero talking about what was going on with him—but it felt good to finally get some things off his chest. It might have also just been the beer.

“Lem’s just always weird about Emmanuel!” Fero complained as he took another swig. “Ever since we were in Nacre. Emmanuel this, Emmanuel that… ‘oh, but what about Emmanuel???’ Knew the dude for literally one day! And he was willing to go out into the city when it was getting destroyed by Ordenna just so he could see his pastry chef ghost boyfriend.”

Throndir had a hand under his chin. “Must have been a pretty intense thing for them to get so wrapped up in each other so seriously.”

“Ugh!” Fero groaned. “I mean so what if he’s cute, right? He’s a ghost! And it wasn’t like Lem was ever going to see him again--but wait--yeah, we did! At the fucking crêpe place I chose for us to meet at!”

“You don’t like Emmanuel?”

Fero groaned even louder and put his face on the counter. “Let’s not even start that…”

Throndir looked concerned and Kodiak whined. 

“It’s okay, Kodiak… I’m not sick,” Fero told him. “Not physically, anyway.”

“So… Lem’s not talking to you because you’re marrying his boyfriend—well, fake-marrying? And… you don’t really like his boyfriend, but you’re still doing this thing to help him out…”

“Look, I’m doing the right thing!” Fero exclaimed. “Right?”

“Yeah! Totally! I mean… if that was the only way you could help Emmanuel from the Ordennans...”

“It is!”

Throndir pursed his lips, looking puzzled. “So… how come Lem is still mad?”

Fero scowled. “I don’t know! He probably wants to be making out with Emmanuel right now and I’m cockblocking him.”

Throndir almost choked and then started to laugh. “I’m sure he’ll come around… After all, if you’re best friends, what’s a fake marriage gonna do to that relationship?”

“Well...We’ve been having a bit of friction even before this fake marriage stuff. I… I think he might be tired of me, you know?” Fero said this with a grin although he felt sad inside. “Told my cousin that i’m ‘a bit much.’”

“I’m sure he said it in a nice way.”

Fero sighed. “Or not… first I fucked up his plant, now I took his boyfriend from him… I don’t blame him for hating me.”

Throndir clapped a hand on Fero’s shoulder. “Hey, Fero… you never look this down. Maybe you should talk to Lem and figure it out.”

“Haha, no way! There’s no talking to him about this stuff. Plus, he’s so pissy about the fake marriage crap.”

“Well, here’s your chance.” Throndir pointed his chin up towards a corner of the pub where Fero saw Lem descending a staircase, walking in their direction.

“Fero!” Lem had called out. Now he was standing between him and Throndir. “What are you doing here? Is Emmanuel with you?”

Fero flattened his eyes. “No. I’m here by myself. Well, with Throndir and Kodiak. But I came alone.”

Lem nodded. “Why are you here?”

Fero sighed. “That’s not important. Why are you here at such an hour?”

“Couldn’t sleep. Is Emmanuel still with your family?”

“Oh could you stop asking about Emmanuel?” Fero narrowed his eyes. “He’s fine! My family loves him. Almost as much as you do…”

Lem sighed. “Why are you always so flippant whenever we talk about him? His situation is real serious you know!”

“Oh, believe me, I do…” Fero said with a groan.

“Well, it’s only going to be for a little while, right? And you’re not actually getting married so..”

“So we’re good! Can we stop talking about Emmanuel now? That’s all you ever talk about…”

Lem blushed. “That is not true!”

“And the Archives… pattern magic… you’re such a dull boy, Lem…” Fero clapped a soft hand onto Lem’s cheek and laughed.

“Really, Fero?” Lem lightly brushed away Fero’s hand.

“He’s a bit drunk right now,” Throndir interjected.

“Oh, this is tame compared to his usual insults,” Lem told Throndir. “I’m sorry you’ve had to suffer him…”

“Oh, I don’t mind at all! I like Fero, he’s fun!”

“Yeah, see? I’m fun. Unlike you,” Fero said, sticking out his tongue.

Lem sighed as he rolled his eyes. “Well...you shouldn’t leave Emmanuel alone for too long.”

Fero scoffed. “See, there you go again!”

“Can you blame me? He’s my boyfriend.”

“You don’t see Hadrian talkin’ bout his wife every other second!”

“You mean Hella?” Lem crossed his arms and playfully rolled his eyes. “Because if that’s the case, then, well…”

“Hey! Not cool! He actually does have a wife!” Throndir protested. “And it’s not Hella! “

Fero giggled. “Geez… look. Lem… let’s go have fun! When’s the last time you had fun, hmm?”

“I mean, I had fun with Emmanuel a few nights—”

“Ok, ew!! And you are a broken record,” Fero told him with a shake of his head.

“Fero’s got a point,” Throndir added. “You’ve been talking about Emmanuel a lot.”

Lem sighed. “I just… miss him.”

“You saw him two days ago!” Fero fumed. “Alright, that’s it. No more Emmanuel talk. We are going to go dance!”

“What?” Lem laughed incredulously. “No!”

“Each time you even so much as think his name I’m going to pinch you!”

“Fero…”

“Come on, let’s go.” Fero gripped Lem by the collar of his vest and dragged him down once he was off his barstool. “I’m tired of you being boring and lovesick—it’s disgusting! We used to have fun, didn’t we?”

Lem softly smiled. “Yeah… we did...back when things seemed much simpler.”

“So let it be simple for at least an hour.”

Fero smiled and dragged Lem over to the area that served as a dance floor in the pub as a quartet played lively music. “Oh… Oh, this one’s a classic! We gotta dance.”

“I thought you hated Rosemerrow traditions, let alone classics,” Lem scoffed.

“I just like this song! So let’s dance!” 

Lem followed without another complaint and Fero thought he saw the hint of a smirk on his face. As the band played a lively jig with violins and stomped on the stage, nearly everyone in the pub clapped along and stomped along, some dancing in circles, others simply hopping to the tune. Fero and Lem were one of those swinging in circles  of course, Fero jumping high each time he and Lem linked arms and spun around.

Fero was glad to see Lem smiling and laughing as they danced in circles, nervously blushing as he kept on making missteps and nearly bumping into other people. When the song was finished, Fero and Lem clapped their hands and laughed at the absurdity of it all. 

“Oh… that was fun!” Lem was grinning from ear to ear as he looked down at Fero. 

Fero grinned back at Lem. “See? Didn’t I tell you?”

Lem pursed his lips into a sanguine expression. “You did…”

They found their way back to the bar seats and noticed that Throndir and Kodiak were no longer there. Fero thought nothing of it and just focused on Lem. “Hey, Lem… How come we don’t do this kind of stuff anymore? And I know it’s not just Emmanuel…”

Lem’s smile dropped. “I don’t know.” He was quiet for a little bit. “It hasn’t been the same since Nacre. Maybe not even since that first tower.”

“It could be. The same again.”

“Maybe.”

“Look, I just want to make you smile.” Fero reached forward and gave Lem a swift, small kiss on his nose. 

Lem blushed and smiled at him. “Fero!”

“We used to have fun… two outcasts out on the open road together, not knowing where we’d be headed next! Adventure around every corner! Danger lurking!

Lem shrugged. “I mean… there’s still adventure and danger around every corner.”

“So why does that mean we can’t have fun like before?”

“I don’t know…” Lem looked at Fero thoughtfully. “You haven’t smiled as much lately, either, Fero…”

Fero blinked and looked down. “What? No…”

“Are  you happy? Being back here?”

“I was happier in the mountains.”

Lem slowly nodded. “I think maybe I was, too… before Emmanuel.”

Fero quickly flicked an eyebrow up. “Right…”

“He’s really great, Fero. I hope you know that.”

“I know. And my family knows it, too.”

“Good. So your plan is working?”

“A little too well.”

Fero thought back to how it really happened. He really kissed Emmanuel, and not as part of a scam. And he ran away here… and Lem had no idea.

“Good. I’m really glad. I’m sorry about being sour about it before…” Lem gave Fero a shoulder squeeze. “Fero, it really means a lot to me that you are doing this for him. Really. Thank you so much!”

Lem reached forward to give Fero a tight hug, and Fero felt his heart sink. 

“Listen, Lem…” 

“Yeah?”

Fero couldn’t say what he really wanted to say. So instead, “We should do this again! Have more fun like this, you know?”

Lem briefly smiled. “Yeah. Well...it’s late, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah. Guess I should fly back.”

Lem’s eyes widened. “You’re not flying back in the snow!”

Fero pursed his lips. “You’re right… I guess I should turn into a horse then.”

“Why don’t you just stay with me?” Lem looked concerned, and it made Fero feel happy in a way. “Until the snow dies down. I don’t feel good letting you go back alone.”

“You’re such a good friend,” Fero told him as he tenderly clapped a hand on Lem’s face. “I love you, Lem.”

Lem softly laughed. “Okay, you’re really drunk…”

“So?” Fero asked before yawning against his sleeve. “Maybe I actually mean it.”

Lem humored some more tired drunk talk from Fero until they got to his room at the inn and Fero promptly fell asleep on Lem’s bed as soon as he was gently dropped onto it.

When Fero woke up several hours later, Lem was still sleeping. He had slept in the same bed but let his legs dangle off onto the floor to give Fero room. Fero supposed Lem did still care about him in some way. Enough to worry about his safety, at least.

Fero gathered his head in his palms, thinking about the night prior. He ran away from Emmanuel after kissing him, and flew straight to Lem, who...he danced with and then slept in the same bed with. Fero also vaguely remembered telling Lem he loved him…but that seemed way too sincere for him to ever do…

He glanced down at Lem, who was sleeping peacefully. Selfishly, he felt so satisfied about having Lem all to himself for once, even if it was just for a few hours. But then he thought back to Emmanuel, the man that Lem loved. And his chest hurt to think about it.

What kind of mess had Fero gotten himself into?

 

+

 

Fero left a small note for Lem before he traveled back to Flank Fields, hoping that he would arrive before anyone woke up. But of course, Emmanuel was awake and sitting in candlelight when Fero walked into his bedroom.

“Hey,” Emmanuel started.

“Hey,” Fero awkwardly replied.

Emmanuel crossed his arms. “We gonna talk about it?”

Fero shook his head. 

“Fero… you ran away after kissing me.”

“Yeah… so?”

“So… are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, totally! It…” Fero cleared his throat and smiled. “It didn’t mean anything. You’re a good kisser, but that’s it.”

Emmanuel stared at Fero. “Really? That’s all there was for you?”

“Yeah!” Fero lightly punched Emmanuel with a forced laugh. “You and Lem are the real couple anyway, I’d never want to screw that up. I guess I just worried that maybe I made you think it was real, but it wasn’t, so we’re cool!”

“Hmm…”

“Anyway… uh… don’t worry about it. I was restless last night. Just needed some fresh air.”

Emmanuel put his hands in his pockets. “You sure?”

“Yeah! So… let’s go do some more schmoozing for my parents,” Fero told him before running up and out the door.

 

+

 

Another day passed peacefully, like it had before Fero kissed Emmanuel, but he found it harder to talk to him. Emmanuel was still nice to him and to his family, and Fero wondered if all of this wasn’t even an act anymore. Fero had kissed him for real. Not that anyone would ever know, least of all Emmanuel. 

He and Fero helped Mr. Feritas do some more yardwork while Arva was away visiting another relative in another district of Rosemerrow. They worked silently until his dad stopped him to point over at something.

“Fero, isn’t that your Ordennan friend?”

Fero whipped around and indeed saw Hella’s imposing figure at the threshold of the garden. She waited patiently under her own torch light as Fero ran up to meet her.

“Hella—what are you doing here?”

“We have to leave soon. Hadrian, Adaire, and Throndir—we’re going to that tower in the south. The sooner the better. You and Lem should get going with the Prince, too. It’s time you break up with Emmanuel and stop wasting time here in Rosemerrow.”

“But…”

“What, is that a problem now? There are more important things to worry about.” Hella gave Fero a narrowed stare. “Wait. You don’t actually care about Emmanuel now, do you?”

“What? No! I…” Fero felt his cheeks warm. He whispered, “It’s been nice being home. And it’s never nice like this and I really think we can pull off the plan.”

Hella sighed and crossed her arms. “Have you ever considered that we might be fine if we don’t succeed with the plan?”

“Hmm?” Fero followed Hella’s far-off gaze towards Emmanuel, who was grinning and laughing with his father.

“I mean… why are you so stubborn about this?” Hella asked as she turned back to Fero.

“Because I said I’d help Lem with Emmanuel and I’m gonna,” Fero argued.

Hella was quiet as she looked down. “If the Ordennans come to kill Emmanuel, they’ll kill him. It doesn’t matter if a family of halflings likes him. If they know he’s cursed, they’ll kill him.”

“WOW. Nice to know who’s side you’re on!” Fero yelled as he glared up at Hella.

“I’m not on a side!” she yelled back.

“Even worse,” Fero scoffed. “Ugh, you’re just…”

“I’m just telling you the truth!” Hella retorted. “The more time we waste on Emmanuel, the more time we lose trying to figure out what’s going on with the sun and this other tower and whatever that fake Fantasmo guy is doing…” Hella groaned. “Fero… I’m just trying to help you out.” 

Fero glared up at Hella.

“You know I’m right. Well, we’re leaving in two days, so this is goodbye, I guess.” Hella said no more and left, leaving Fero to think over what she said and the implications of drawing out his charade in Rosemerrow.

After they had finished the yardwork and washed up inside the house, Emmanuel asked Fero, “What was Hella here for?”

“Uh... “ Fero rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. “She says that her half of the group is leaving on their next mission in a couple of days.”

“Oh.” Emmanuel was quiet as he looked at nothing in particular. “And… that means you and Lem have to leave, too.”

“Well, no! Not necessarily,” Fero protested.

“But you should.”

Fero crossed his arms and sighed. “I mean… who’s to say if leaving sooner or later will make a difference?”

“You’re staying because of me… to protect me…” Emmanuel shook his head. “If you two have to go, you should go.”

“But what about our plan?”

“From what Lem told me… it sounds like the thing you are dealing with is serious. End of the world serious… that’s more important than… a simple baker.”

Fero tensed his brow and shook his head. “No, it isn’t!”

Emmanuel’s eyes softened. “Fero… It’s all right. If this has to dissolve, then let’s do it sooner rather than later. Break up with me.”

Fero’s eyebrows shot up. “What? No! Look… my family really likes you and.. I don’t want to ruin that.”

“Fero, it’s okay. And if they really like me… maybe your original plan will work. I’ll stay here while you and Lem go to the New Archives.”

“No! If I break up with you now… it’s too risky, they might guess that we were lying about everything. So let’s just keep the marriage charade going and we can leave my family happy believing a lie!”

“No, Fero.”

“What?”

“I can’t. I can’t go on living  a lie and.. Taking advantage of your family...it’s wrong.”

“You didn’t think it was wrong before.”

“Hey, I had some doubts but… after getting to know them, I would hate to hurt them.”

Fero looked down for a long time and thought about the consequences of keeping up the lie. “You really care about them now, huh?”

“Yeah. They’ve been so nice to me, so welcoming.” Emmanuel smiled at Fero. “Honestly, it’s enough.”

Fero glanced down, feeling his heart sink. “What about you? Would you be safe? If it didn’t work out…”

Emmanuel cocked his head to the side. “I’ve never seen you so concerned about anything before. Why are you doubting the plan now?”

Fero exhaled as he shook his head. “I don’t know…”

“Are you… worried about me?”

Fero put his face in his hands and groaned.

Emmanuel walked close to him and sat down. “I’m sorry, couldn’t understand that. You’ll have to not talk with your hands in your mouth.”

Fero glanced at him, narrowing his eyes, seeing the grin on Emmanuel’s face. He hated how handsome he looked, and how warm his gaze was.

“Are you worried about me, Fero?”

Fero looked away from him and then shrugged.

“You’re being quiet. So this must be genuine. Wow, Fero… I never thought you could actually care for—“

“Why is everyone an asshole who thinks I can’t care about anything?!” Fero burst out.

Emmanuel’s eyes widened. “I didn’t say—“

“It’s fine. I guess… I don’t show enough of that side of me to other people. But I do care… it’s just… the things I care about, the way I care about them…”

Emmanuel stared at Fero, hunching over to be more level with Fero. “Thanks for caring about me.”

Fero whipped around to face him, his cheeks growing hot. “I never said I cared about you!”

Emmanuel smirked and breathed out a laugh. “You didn’t have to.”

“Hey, I don’t! I’m… I’m just trying to do the right thing and…”

Emmanuel was staring at Fero with a compassionate gaze, as if he could see through all this bravado.

Fero looked down. “I really wish you wouldn’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” Emmanuel raised a hand and cupped Fero’s chin to make him look at him. “Hey, you can be honest with me. We’re in this together. And I care about you, too."

Fero got lost in the gaze again, and he was all too aware of the gentle touch on his chin. Before he knew it he found himself inching closer to Emmanuel’s face.

“Well, that's unfortunate,” Fero finally replied with a smirk.

Emmanuel laughed and shook his head. Then he warmly looked at Fero. “C'mon, admit it. You actually started to care about me. You know... that actually makes me happy.”

Fero lost his smirk and nervously swallowed, realizing that Emmanuel still hadn't let go of his chin. And he was so close now that Fero closed his eyes, afraid he might kiss Emmanuel if he kept looking at him like that.

“…Fero! Fero, I have some important news!” It was Lem’s voice that Fero heard from outside his bedroom door. This was unexpected. Lem wasn’t supposed to be here. 

The door opened and Fero couldn’t pull away from Emmanuel in time to keep Lem from seeing them. Lem’s eyes were frozen and wide-eyed as Emmanuel quickly turned to face him.

“Lem…” he started.

Fero couldn’t say anything. He looked at Lem, then turned back to Emmanuel. 

Lem fiddled with his hands at his vest, and then at his trouser pockets. “I… Sorry, I should have knocked first. I just had to come as soon as I could from Roseheart, and Hella said she was going to come but I thought we should talk, too and I—Oh, I’m, just, yeah.” Lem promptly turned around and left down the hallway.

“Lem!” Fero sprang forward.

Emmanuel caught his hand. “Fero, wait—“

“I have to explain!” Fero wriggled from Emmanuel’s grasp. “Shit… I never wanted to hurt him, and Look what I just did!” 

“He’ll be okay. It was just a misunderstanding,” Emmanuel said. “Nothing happened.”

“But it almost did,” Fero moaned. 

Emmanuel sighed. “Look, maybe I’ll go talk to him. It’s my fault, and he’s my boyfriend.”

“It wasn’t your fault. And I’ve already done enough to ruin things for the both of you.” Fero ran out of his room despite Emmanuel’s protests, hoping Lem hadn’t left the house yet. 

“Lem!”

Mrs. Feritas was sitting in the living room working on a cross-stitch pattern. She turned to Fero with a worried frown. “Fero, is everything all right?”

Fero shook his head. “Uh, Mom, I’m gonna go talk to Lem outside if that’s okay.”

“Sure, honey. He just left out the front door,” Mrs. Feritas replied. She watched as Fero sprinted without another word.

He flung the door open and then slammed it shut behind him, prepared to run after Lem in the snow if he had to. But as soon as he sprinted a few steps, he saw Lem standing underneath the lamp on the porch. 

“Oh, Lem! You didn’t leave, thank goodness!” Fero gasped as he ran to him. Lem had his arms crossed and was quiet as Fero caught his breath.

Once they were both quiet, Fero started. “Uh… I know you’re upset, but nothing happened.”

Lem kept his same posture, not looking at Fero.

Fero waited for him to respond, but got nothing after several seconds. “Okay, so… are you cool? What are you doing out here?”

Lem was still silent and his gaze was hard off to the distance, though Fero wasn’t sure he was actually staring at anything.

“Okay, so you’re mad?” Fero asked.

Lem was still quiet.

Fero groaned. “Gosh Lem, I don’t know if it’s worse that you’re not saying anything to me at all!”

“What is there to say?” Lem finally said as he turned to speak to Fero.

“I don’t know—you’re pissed off, aren’t you?”

Lem breathed out a laugh and then said, “If only it were that simple.”

Fero felt his heart in his throat. “Look, what you saw… it wasn’t… nothing happened…”

“I saw enough. He… looked happy with you,” Lem continued. “Maybe this is all for the best. You and Emmanuel stay together, get married, he’ll have Rosemerrow citizenship, and that will make him safe.”

“No, that’s not the plan!” Fero protested. “You two are still together and in love, right?”

Lem heaved in a deep sigh. “Yes, Fero—I love Emmanuel. And this is why I’m okay with you going through with this ludicrous plan to marry him because it will keep him safe. But after this, I can’t see you anymore. Or Emmanuel.”

Fero saw that Lem was shaking. “Lem…”

“Fero, I’m going to ask you to not come with me to the Archives.”

Fero was shaking now. “Lem! What the hell are you saying? We’re not really getting married!”

“But you really have feelings for him now!”

Fero was quiet. He didn’t know what to say to that.

“Admit it! And after all the shit you gave me! After almost letting him die in Nacre—how many times did you say ‘who cares about Emmanuel?!” Lem was puffing up now and it was rare he got this agitated. “Fero, how could you?!”

“How could you?!” Fero shouted back. “Ever since you met Emmanuel, he’s taken over your life. No one else mattered as much as him. And you only met him once! And you were willing to forget about all the time that we had together, because you cared more about your ghost boyfriend! Who you barely knew!”

“Well, now you’re ruining our friendship because you and Emmanuel are choosing each other over me!”

“I WAS DOING THIS FOR YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!” Fero screamed.

Lem’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“I didn’t give a shit about Emmanuel before this week! I wanted to do this for you because if Emmanuel died or something else happened to him, it would have destroyed you and I didn’t want to see you get hurt. I… wanted to do something good for you. But joke’s on me now! ‘Cause you’re still hurt and now I actually like Emmanuel.”

Lem was quiet as he took in everything Fero said. “You wanted to do this… for me? How does getting married to my boyfriend help me, Fero?”

“I panicked!” Fero snapped. “And… at least that way, I wouldn’t be losing you to him, either. It was win-win for a while.”

“Lose me? Fero, why would you lose me?”

“Because that’s how this was going to end if I didn’t interfere. You were going to be completely in love with him and forget about me and then I’d be all alone! If he came with us to the Archives, I know without a doubt if anything happened, you would put his life before mine.”

Lem pursed his lips. “Fero… how could you say that?”

“Do you deny it?”

Lem was quiet and then heaved a sigh.

“Tell me the truth—me or him, you would choose him, right?” Fero asked, hot tears starting to well up in his eyes.

Lem was quiet.

“Why do you love him and not me?” Fero quietly asked.

“Fero…” Lem walked closer to Fero. “You’re my best friend. There’s no replacing that.”

Fero swallowed and looked down. “What if I don’t want to just be your best friend? Lem.. I want what Emmanuel has with you. The way you look at him… the way you talk about him… the things you do with him… Why is he able to get all of that from you… and I can’t?”

“Fero….what are you saying?” Lem had a flushed face as his eyes grew wide.

“I guess I’ve been jealous of him!” Fero admitted as he looked down. “That’s why I hated him all along…I disappeared when he came into your life. But now I see why… I see why you fell in love with him.”

“And I know why he’s falling for you,” Lem said as he knelt down to be level with Fero. “Fero… you’re wonderful! Yes, you’re a bit of an asshole and you drive me crazy, but… you have also brought me so much joy and laughter and you’re always there for me. You try not to let anyone know you care, but you do—and you’re stubborn about it. And I love that about you.”

Fero looked up and saw Lem give him a soft gaze. “Sometimes I wonder if I never met Emmanuel…”

Fero felt crushed at hearing this. Maybe if he had been more open with his feelings, if he hadn’t pushed them so deep down, he and Lem might have…

“Ugh,” Fero groaned as he put his face into his hands. “For the record, I’m fine with just being the husband and you being the lover in the relationship when Manny and I get married.”

Lem groaned. “Oh no… Fero, it doesn’t have to be like that.”

Fero sighed. “We should end this, huh? It’s… getting confusing.” 

Lem sighed. “Fero, just tell me… do you have feelings for Emmanuel?”

Fero cleared his throat before he replied, “Uh… No, I mean—I want him to be happy and you and him being together… that’s how it should be. You two should be happy!”

Lem was frowning. “You should be happy, too.”

“I’ll be happy if you’re happy. That’s why I wanted to protect him in the first place. For you.”

Lem swallowed. “Fero… my happiness means that much to you?”

“I just wanted to make you smile, for once,” Fero said as tears welled up in his eyes again.

Lem tilted his head as he clapped a hand on Fero’s shoulder. “Hey, you do make me smile! Maybe we don’t smile as much now as we did before, but… I’m still happy to be with you.”

“The way you are with Emmanuel?”

Lem sighed and glanced down. “It’s different.”

“Is it?” Fero asked.

Lem stared at Fero thoughtfully and Fero blinked under that gaze as Lem brought a hand to cup his face.

“Let me try something,” Lem said before leaning in towards Fero’s face. Fero’s eyes widened and his lips parted in surprise as Lem gave him a kiss.

As soon as Fero felt Lem’s lips on his, he closed his eyes and took in the gentle kiss. It felt like his entire body warmed at the touch and they were forehead to forehead right before Lem pulled away, looking as dazed as Fero felt.

Before Fero could say anything, he heard a small crash just several feet away. He jerked his head to look at the source and saw his mother bending to pick up broken pieces of what looked like a teacup in the front doorway. As soon as Fero met her gaze, she promptly turned around and went back inside.

“Oh—oh no,” Lem uttered.

“Fuck!” Fero shouted as he pushed past him.

Lem stood up properly and looked at Fero with fear in his eyes. “Fero, what do you think—”

“Shit, she saw you kiss me, shit!”

“Oh, fuck!”

“You need to leave,” Fero told Lem.

“Wait, I can stay—I can help explain?”

Fero shook his head at Lem. “No, it’ll be best if you leave. But I have to get to my mom before she gets to Emmanuel!”

Lem nodded. “You’re right. Fero… fix it. Emmanuel, him being safe—it comes before anything else. 

Fero nodded. “I get it.”

“And Fero?”

“Yeah?”

“If it was you in Emmanuel’s situation… you would be the one who came first. It’s not because I love him more. I love you, too.”

Fero nodded at Lem, who then turned around with a short smile. Fero breathed the cold air into his lungs, hoping for the strength to carry him through the next hour.

 

+

 

When Fero went back inside the house, Mrs. Feritas was sitting at the dining room table, looking a little too focused on the cross-stitch she continued to work on. Fero guessed that she might have been outside with cups of tea to try and intervene with what she may have heard to be an argument between friends. Fero cursed himself for being so loud.

“Mom…”

She looked up. “Fero.”

Fero swallowed as he sat down next to her. “Mom… I can—“

“You shouldn’t get married if you’re not ready,” Mrs. Feritas interrupted.

Fero flinched. “…I am ready, though!”

“Fero…” Mrs. Feritas stopped and looked at Fero, placing a hand on his.

Fero quieted and looked at his mom, who continued, “It was too soon. You weren’t really ready to get married, were you?”

“Sure I was!”

“Fero.”

Fero sighed. “Look, what you saw—“

“I know Lem is very special to you, like Manny.” Mrs. Feritas gently smiled, though her eyes looked sad. “I saw it the first time you brought him over.”

Fero’s face started to flame. What was she talking about?

“And… it’s okay to have more than one special person in your life, to have feelings for more than one person. But for most people, you choose to be with one person to spend the rest of your life with—and you have to be sure about who that person is.”

“Mom—“

“It’s okay. You’re still young. You still have time to figure it out. We… never should have rushed you about getting married.”

Fero tapped his hands on the table before saying, “Mom, I’m leaving again. I’m going with Lem to the New Archives.”

Mrs. Feritas stared at him hard before replying, “Fero, are you and Lem—“

“It’s not what you think!” Fero placed his hands up in defense as he spoke. “We were planning to go before, but then this thing with Emmanuel came up and… I just wanted to make sure he was safe before I left.”

“Oh, Fero… Don’t worry about Manny. He still has a place here if he needs it. You be sure to tell him that.”

Fero heaved in a breath and exhaled. “Really?!”

Mrs. Feritas nodded. “He’s really a lovely man. Maybe the time away will do your head some good, and one day we might still have that wedding.” 

Fero smiled. “Mom… thank you for understanding.”

Mrs. Feritas sadly smiled and nodded. Then she and Fero leaned forward to hug each other.

 

+

 

Fero had been able to go back to his bedroom shortly after his conversation with his mom, and he was met with a very tense Emmanuel, who appeared to have been pacing back and forth in the room when he arrived. 

“Hey! So… what happened?” Emmanuel’s eyes were wide with anticipation.

Fero had his hands on his hips, and he looked at Emmanuel with a smile he could try and muster up to hide the chaos going on inside his heart.

“Well… Mom saw me and Lem kiss outside, so now she thinks I cheated on you and the wedding’s off.”

Emmanuel’s eyes got even bigger. “What?! You and Lem kissed?”

Fero sheepishly laughed, “Umm. Kinda. Yeah. But don’t worry, it’s good! See, she really likes you and so does my dad so they’re still willing to take you in if you need it. So… we don’t have to get married anymore.”

Emmanuel was quiet for a long while before he finally said, “Oh.”

Fero nervously laughed. “Yeah… I guess it worked out!”

“Oh…” Emmanuel looked down and thought silently for a few seconds. “So… you and Lem, you planned this? He’s fine with what happened earlier?”

Fero blanked for a few seconds. What if they had planned it? 

Emmanuel didn’t have to know about his and Lem’s actual conversation, Fero wouldn’t have to try and figure out why Lem kissed him, and then Lem wouldn’t have to be conflicted anymore. He and Emmanuel could be happy together and things could go back to normal.

“Yeah, it was all my plan!” Fero finally said with a grin. “And Lem, he knows that nothing happened. So… you and Lem still have a chance to be together, you don’t have to marry me, my family still loves you—everyone wins!”

Emmanuel smiled from one corner of his mouth. “Fero, marrying you wouldn’t have been so bad…”

Fero smiled back and felt his cheeks warm. “Yeah, well… now you can marry the person you’re crazy about for real!”

Emmanuel stared at Fero, then exhaled in relief. “I’m not sure that’ll happen anytime soon, but thank you. For everything.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem!”

Emmanuel cleared his throat. “So are we breaking up then? What should we tell your family, I mean?”

“Yeah, it’ll be a fake breakup for a fake engagement,” Fero replied with a smirk. “And they’ll know Lem and I are going to the Archives—hopefully they won’t think I’m running off with him, aha…”

“Wow, so just like that, it’s over,” Emmanuel remarked. “By the way, was kissing Lem like I described?”

Fero nervously laughed, “You know, I didn’t really have time to think about it!”

Emmanuel crossed his arms. “Must have been a pretty convincing kiss, then, for your family to buy it.”

“Ah, you know… I’m just a great actor and Lem’s my best friend!” Fero denied.

“Sure… Well, let’s go to bed and break up in the morning.” He walked forward and gave Fero a ruffle of his hair. He and Fero smiled at each other, and then they actually got ready for bed.

Fero’s heart hammered in his chest as he flashed back to the moment that Lem held his face and kissed him so tenderly, the way he usually was with Emmanuel. And Fero’s face grew hot just thinking about it. What did Lem mean by saying he wanted to ‘try’ something? He still loved Emmanuel, right? That’s what he was saying, that his love was different for Emmanuel than it was for Fero, and…

Fero shook his head as if that would literally shake those thoughts away.

It didn’t matter. Lem and Emmanuel were together and that’s how it was going to be. That’s what would make them both happy. And Fero should be happy for them.

 

+

 

The next morning, Fero and Emmanuel returned to Rosheart to meet with Lem. But before that was a teary and somewhat awkward goodbye ‘for now’ to Fero’s family from the both of them. 

“Please do try and send some word while you’re away this time,” Mr. Feritas told Fero.

“And…don’t get hurt,” Mrs. Feritas added.

Fero smiled sadly. “Aww, Mom, I’ll be okay.”

“We’ll see you soon, Manny?” Mr. Feritas asked the baker.

Emmanuel smiled. “Sure! If you ever need help around the house or if you want to come to Roseheart for crêpes, I’ll be here.”

Mrs. Feritas moved forward and hugged Emmanuel, and whispered something that Fero couldn’t hear.

“Well… we’re gonna go,” Fero said as he waved, having already given out his goodbye hugs. He waited for Emmanuel to catch up and they left to Roseheart.

As Emmanuel went to work his shift at the Likely Striker, Fero tracked down Lem at the inn he was staying at. He showed up at the doorstep of Lem’s room just before Lem was about leave, bags packed.

“Fero!” Lem dropped his bags after opening the door and meeting eyes with Fero. “Is everything all right? What happened?”

“Don’t worry! I… I figured everything out—umm, well when you ki—when my mom saw you, you know…” Fero cleared his throat because he could feel himself starting to get flustered just thinking back to his kiss with Lem. “She thought I cheated on Manny with you and then said we didn’t have to get married, but my family still wants to take him in if he needs it.”

Lem gasped. “Wow…”

“So…I’m not getting married to Emmanuel and he gets to stay safe in Rosemerrow. This all worked out for the best, huh?” Fero grinned up at Lem.

Lem looked at him sadly. “You think you would still want to?’

Fero froze. “Please, if Emmanuel was free to choose someone to marry we all know he would choose you.”

“Fero…”

“It’s fine.“ Fero sighed deeply. “Let’s just forget it and move on. We gotta get to the Archives soon, right?”

Lem was quiet, but there was a look in his eyes like he wanted to say something. Fero didn’t want to hear it.

“Let’s go say goodbye to Emmanuel.”

 

+

 

Lem and Fero went to the Likely Striker and sat down in the cafe patiently until Emmanuel was able to take a break from his shift. Emmanuel looked shocked when they arrived, but then he fondly smiled at the both of them before returning his attention to his current customer.

As soon as Emmanuel was able to take a moment, he went over and sat down at their table. Fero stood up. “I’ll leave you both some alone time." 

“Fero, no. Stay,” Emmanuel told him. Then he looked at Lem. “So…this week went by fast, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, though I’m sure it was more eventful for you,” Lem said with a soft laugh. “Fero and I have to leave now, but… first sign of big trouble, you just run, okay?"

Emmanuel softened his eyes. “Where?”

“Anywhere you can. We’ll find each other again.” Lem smiled. 

Emmanuel smiled back. “Okay. And Lem… don’t do anything too rash? Fero, I’m counting on you to watch him for me.”

Fero scoffed. “Well, lately Lem does what he wants.”

Emmanuel dryly laughed. “Then remember to always call him on his bullshit.”

Fero grinned at Emmanuel. “Will do!”

Lem scoffed. “Hey! If anyone here is reckless or rash, it’s you, Fero!”

“You’re carrying a drug plant to the archives to make up for stealing a violin!” Fero retorted.

“...So?!”  Lem argued. “You told everyone you were going to marry Emmanuel even though—”

“Hey, shut up...” Emmanuel groaned. “You know, you two are the ones who act like an actual married couple with how much you bicker.”

“Do not!” Both Lem and Fero said this in unison as they crossed their arms in the same motion. Then they noticed this and groaned.

Emmanuel laughed. “Well, just look out for each other. And… no matter how dark it may seem, or how much you bicker, how much you might even hate each other… don’t ever lose faith in each other. There’s a bond between you two that is stronger than hate.”

Fero glanced at Lem, who glanced back at him with an ambiguous expression.

“Well, I guess we’ll see…” Fero nonchalantly said. 

On the inside, he was twisting with the realization that if he really had feelings for Lem, if he loved him, he might not ever be able to hate him, no matter how much they argued or got mad at each other. He wondered if Lem felt the same.

“Yeah, we will…” Lem said before turning back to Emmanuel.

“Well, no matter what happens, I want to see you both back in Rosemerrow.” Emmanuel stood up and walked close to Lem. Lem also stood up, a blush forming on his face as Emmanuel grasped his waist.

“I’ll miss you,” Lem whispered to him.

“I’ll miss you, too,” Emmanuel said before leaning forward and kissing Lem. 

Fero watched, noting how passionate they both were. This was how it should be, even though it left a bit of an ache in his heart.

“Fero,” Emmanuel said after he sat down next to Fero, meeting him face to face. “I’ll miss you, too.” Then he pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Really?” Fero blushed and looked away, crossing his arms. “I guess… it was nice having you around. I’ll miss your crêpes for sure!”

Emmanuel laughed. “Well… then you better survive so you can come back and I can make you some.”

Fero turned around to smile at Emmanuel. “Deal!”

Lem warmly smiled at the two of them.

Fero cleared his throat. “Well… since we’re heading out soon… I’ll leave you two alone to spend time together, since I kind of stole that from you, Lem.”

“..No, Fero, that’s alright—“

“Too bad! I’m leaving! Have fun with each other!” Fero jumped up out of his seat and waved, though he felt warm tears welling up in his eyes. He wouldn’t dare turn around and let either Lem or Emmanuel see.

“Fero!” Lem called after him.

Fero promised to meet him the next day and waved goodbye again without looking back.

He ended up going back home that day, which he knew would be his last day in Rosemerrow for a very long time. But Fero didn’t see his family, making himself undetectable and sitting in the rafters of their big barn for hours. That’s where he felt most like himself apart from the mountains, when he was alone. And he desperately needed to feel like his old self, the version of himself who didn’t have stupid conflicting feelings that made his chest hurt. The version of himself that didn't fuck up everything and hurt himself in the process.

 

+

 

The next day, Lem and Fero reunited in Roseheart and walked along the main road that led them out of Rosemerrow. They were going to meet Ephrim and Devaar soon, continuing on their journey to the New Archives.

“Hey… you told Emmanuel the kiss between us wasn’t real, didn’t you?” Lem asked Fero.

Fero crossed his arms behind his head. “Yeah. So?”

“Why?”

“I want  you two to be happy.”

Lem stopped walking. “Fero.”

Fero didn’t stop, but turned around so he was walking backwards, facing Lem now. “What? Was it even real?”

Lem was quiet for a long time.

“Cool, let’s talk about it after we save the world from the apocalypse, okay?” Fero turned back around.

He heard Lem’s quick steps in the ground as he caught up to walk next  to him again. “Fero.” 

“It’s fine! I’m cool with it, we all get to move on as normal—as if none of this ever happened. So let’s go!”

“You know that’s not—“ 

Fero turned into a horse. 

Then he neighed and shook his head to gesture for Lem to get on.

Lem groaned. “Oh, Fero… No, I’m not going to ride you—that’s weird!”

Fero shrugged as best as a horse could and trotted onward, glancing back at Lem. 

Lem giggled and grinned. “Ugh, you are so insufferable!”

And so they continued on in the dark… not knowing just how high the stakes would be when they arrived at the New Archives, nor how important it would be to heed Emmanuel’s words of warning to safeguard faith, friendship, and love. Only time would tell if any of that survived.

But for now, Fero was just happy that he was able to put a smile on Lem’s face once more.


End file.
